Fisker Automotive Starts Plug-In Production in May

LOS ANGELES — Fisker Automotive plans to fire up its production line in May and have the first Karma plug-in hybrids in showrooms by September.

Founder Henrik Fisker revealed the production version of his superluxe car here at the Los Angeles Auto Show and said the first customers will be driving them by this time next year. Some 1,500 people have placed orders for the $87,900 Karma plug-in hybrid, which will be built in Finland by Valmet Automotive. Fisker said he wants to have as many in driveways as possible by the end of 2010, but some who have already placed deposits may have to wait until 2011.

“The line at Valmet starts in May,” he said. “We’ll see how fast we can ramp up production. What I can say is if you haven’t placed an order by now, you won’t see a car until 2011.”

Fisker says the company is currently crash testing cars on its own. Federal crash testing will begin once the production line starts. And though he’s still got a lot of work to do if the company is to hit its goal for the Karma, Fisker is already looking ahead to several new models.

Fisker says project engineering for Project Nina, his mid-sized plug-in hybrid sedan, will begin in January now that the Department of Energy has approved a $528.7 million loan to help get the car built.

“The DOE loan means we’re stepping in the accelerator yet again,” Fisker said.

Nina will be built entirely in the United States at a former General Motors plant in Wilmington, Delaware, that Fisker Automotive bought in October. The company will spend $175 million refurbishing the plant to build the car. Nina is slated to cost $39,900 after the $7,500 federal tax credit for EVs and plug-in hybrids. Fisker says Nina will see production in mid-2012 but we won’t see what it looks like for another year or so.

“It’s very radically styled, and we don’t want our competitors seeing it quite yet,” he said. Fisker Automotive hopes to offer as many as three models of the mid-sized sedan in the coming years.

As if he didn’t have enough on his plate, Fisker also is designing a third variation of the Karma to join the sedan and Fisker Sunset convertible he plans to build in 2011. About a dozen people have placed $25,000 deposits to reserve the drop-top, said company spokesman Russell Datz.

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