Car Company Gets $529 million U.S. Loan, Builds Cars In Finland
With the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work.
Vice President Joseph Biden heralded the Energy Department’s $529 million loan to the start-up electric car company called Fisker as a bright new path to thousands of American manufacturing jobs. But two years after the loan was announced, the job of assembling the flashy electric Fisker Karma sports car has been outsourced to Finland.
“There was no contract manufacturer in the U.S. that could actually produce our vehicle,” the car company’s founder and namesake told ABC News. “They don’t exist here.”
Henrik Fisker said the U.S. money so far has been spent on engineering and design work that stayed in the U.S., not on the 500 manufacturing jobs that went to a rural Finnish firm, Valmet Automotive.
“We’re not in the business of failing; we’re in the business of winning. So we make the right decision for the business,” Fisker said. “That’s why we went to Finland.”
focusonzenergy
October 21, 2011 at 9:12 am
What is the real reason these plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will be produced in Finland and not in Wilmington?
Well DUH
Obama is an idiot for one! “I will bankrupt the coal industry”
And 2, Fisker knew that “electricity costs will skyrocket” because Obama said so.
And 3, Fisker will not build a plug-in electric car in a country where policies and regulations have counter purposes and where President Obama is easily bamboozled.
And 4, Fisker will build the plug-in electric car in region where electricity is cheap and abundant and there are customers. And that ain’t the US.
electricity generations source
Norway – 97% hydro dams
Sweden – 65% hydro dams, 45% nuclear
Finland – 28% hydro dams, 15% nuclear, 15% imported
US – 45% coal, 20% nuclear
Average electric cost in gasoline gallon equivalent
Northern Europe – 7.5 cents/KWh == $2.50 per gallon
Eastern US – 17 cents/KWh == $5.67 per gallon
How stupid does a consumer have to be to purchase a plug-in electric car in the eastern US? Extremely!
Fisker smart! Obama dumb!