Fisker Automotive plans to raise another $75 to $150 million to add to the $300 million it has already raised privately, the $529 million awarded from the U.S. Department of Energy, and the $21.5 million in grants and loans it has received from the state of Delaware. If you think there’s a lot of money going in, but not much coming out, company CEO Henrik Fisker says not to worry. Investors will most likely to be paid back once Fisker stock eventually goes public, like Tesla Motors.
Fisker told Reuters:
“We have to launch the Karma first, that is clear. You have to get the revenue and launch the Karma, but we already are making sure our company is prepared for this possibility of an IPO.”
The first factory-produced version of the $88,000 Karma sports sedan was displayed at the Paris Motor Show in October. CEO Fisker, the designer of the Aston Martin DB9, V8 Vantage and BMW Z8, said at the event that the company has more than 3,000 pre-orders for the Karma and expects to start deliveries in March (we’ll see).
In late 2012, Fisker intends to launch Project Nina in Delaware, where the company purchased the Boxwood Road Plant previously owned by General Motors. The plan is to employ 2,500 people in Delaware and produce the Nina SUV and a two-door version. Then, if things go well, three iterations of the Karma will be built: the sports sedan, a convertible, and a sports wagon. The plans are big, and will apparently cost another $150 million or so.
[Source: Delaware Online]
