If at first your electric Tesla rival doesn't succeed, go bankrupt, get bought out, ditch your running gear, team with BMW on powertrains, and - if you're Karma - rebrand. Out of the ashes of the Fisker Karma, the slinky electric sedan which took plenty of federal incentives but then showed more of an inclination to set itself on fire rather than save the planet, comes the Karma Revero.
The folks at Fisker Automotive and Technology Group have changed their name to Karma Automotive. After declaring bankruptcy back in November of 2013, the company was acquired in February of 2014 by the Chinese auto-parts conglomerate Wanxiang Group. Chairman and founder of the group, Lu Guanqiu, was quick to suggest that he would "put every cent that Wanxiang earns into making electric vehicles" back in May of 2014 - fast forward to September of 2015 and the company appears to be back with a whole new name.
Troubled luxury hybrid maker Fisker is aiming to get its reborn new Karma sedan on roads by mid-2016, the company's new management have revealed. The new Karma will be based on the gas-and-electric original model Fisker Automotive began producing in 2011, though final details are yet to be confirmed. A spate of vehicle fires and underwhelming sales forced Fisker into bankruptcy in 2013, at which point it was snapped up as a relative bargain - albeit one with a history in need of some serious PR massaging - by a Chinese auto-parts maker.
Fisker, that other high-style, high-performance electric maker that didn't quite find the same success as Tesla, is said to be planning its rebirth after being saved from bankruptcy last year. This involves building a new factory in nearly the same neighborhood as Tesla Motor's Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada, or somewhere between Los Angeles and Palm Springs. The other development involves an introduction of a proper successor to the Fisker Karma.
Many Americans looked at the loans that the federal government handed out to help usher in green vehicles using electricity rather than oil dubiously. The problem with many of the companies that received the loans was that the cars they were working on were well out of the price range most Americans can afford and the technology was unproven. One of the major disappointments came from Fisker.
Fisker was one of the auto manufacturers that received huge loans from the US federal government to create green vehicles. Things started going bad for Fisker last summer when it laid off a massive number of its workers and the federal government pulled the firms remaining loan funds leaving the company unable to operate. In November of last year, Fisker entered bankruptcy.
Fisker, the company behind the Karma hybrid sports car, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this weekend. The company hasn't had very good luck these past few years. The company originally set out to make green cars sexy, but it has been floundering for the better part of two years due to car fires, faulty batteries, design flaws, missed milestones set by the US government, a terrible Consumer Reports Review, and Hurricane Sandy. See, no luck.
On April 5, we reported that Fisker automotive had laid off 75-percent of its workforce, with a lawsuit following a few days later over the last-minute nature of the mass layoffs. The auto maker had run into a string of problems, and appeared to be making some last-ditch efforts to avoid bankruptcy. In light of this, the Department of Energy has taken $21 million from a reserve account, expecting the manufacturer to default on its loan.
Fisker, maker of the beautiful Karma hybrid luxury vehicle, had a rough time last year, reportedly having fire issues with some of its cars and then losing hundreds of them during Hurricane Sandy. On April 5, we reported that the company had laid off about 75-percent of its workforce in what seemed to be a last-ditch effort to pull out of bankruptcy. It has surfaced that the same day the layoffs took place, a lawsuit was filed against Fisker.
Fisker, the automotive company that has been selling its hybrid-powered Karma vehicle for over a year now, is reported to be laying off 160 employees, which is approximately 75% of the entire company's staff. Rumors were flying around earlier this morning, but it appears to be a done deal, and this could spell the end for the luxury hybrid auto manufacturer.
It's happened again, folks. Another verified Twitter account was hacked this week, the latest victim being automobile manufacturer Fisker, who's Twitter account was hacked by what seems to be a group of diet and exercise fiends, or just a couple of hackers wanting to post some spam. Either way, this marks the fourth time that a verified Twitter account has been hacked this week alone.
Welcome to the SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: Presidential Edition. The world of tech didn't come to a halt just because we needed to go out and vote, so in case you missed it, here's the big news from the day. We learned today that HTC and Verizon will be holding a press event on November 13, and it's there that we're expecting to get our first official introduction to the HTC DROID DNA. Speaking of HTC, the company gave us its earnings for October 2012 today, and they aren't looking all that great. Halo 4 officially launched today, but it isn't without its share of server problems, and physical Google Wallet cards have been confirmed on a Google support page.
