'Old' GM May Offload Plant on New-Age Automaker
By Michelle Krebs October 26, 2009The "old" General Motors Corp. - now known by the name Motors Liquidation Co. - could be 
on the verge of completing a deal that would bring in some revenue to pay back some of the former GM's creditors, according to a report over the weekend from the Wall Street Journal.
Motors Liquidation reportedly is ready to sell its assembly plant in Wilmington, Del., to Irvine, Calif., new-tech automaker Fisker Automotive Inc. The company, whose CEO is Henrik Fisker, a former designer for BMW AG, has made headlines in recent years with his Fisker Karma extended-range electric vehicle, a slinky, nearly-$90,000 sport sedan set to go on sale next year. The Karma will be produced in Finland under contract with known low-volume vehicle assembler Valmet Automotive.
Vice President Joe Biden, a former senator from Delaware, is expected to make the announcement about the plant on Tuesday along with Delaware Gov. Jack Markell and state officials.
The Wilmington plant probably will be best remembered for its most recent products, GM's Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky roadsters and coupes. The Pontiac and Saturn brands have been discontinued and vehicles for both brands no longer are being produced.
Production of Fisker's Karma has yet to begin, but the Wilmington site presumably would be secured to build the company's second vehicle, a more-affordable, likely more-conventional hybrid-electric family sedan the company hopes to make in volumes of up to 100,000 units annually at a price around $48,000.
Where is this startup company that has yet to build a single production car coming up with the seed money to buy an assembly plant from the former GM? Government funds - specifically, a $528-million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy's $25-billion Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program. It is the same program through which many established automakers have already secured or are seeking funds to develop more-efficient, high-technology vehicles and retool assembly plants to build them.
According to Edmunds.com's Green Car Advisor, Fisker is establishing vital relationships with a number of established automotive suppliers to develop and build the Karma and that cadre likely will be prominent in the development of the car projected to be built in Wilmington and code-named NINA.
Fisker has signed on 45 premium-car dealers in the U.S. to sell the Karma and is planning to more than double that number by the time the new, lower-priced hybrid family sedan would go on sale sometime in 2012. - Bill Visnic, Senior Contributing Editor
Photo by Fisker Automotive
Fisker Karma extended-range electric car goes on sale next year.
LEAVE A COMMENT