…
Fisker said it was not aware of any consumer complaints, warranty claims or “any other reports related to this condition.” It said fewer than 50 vehicles were in the hands of consumers.
Under federal regulations dealers may not sell the remaining new models until the recall is completed.
Full story at the NYT
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It’s another example of USA tax dollars at work – in Finland:
From ABC News, Oct 20th, 2011:
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 company’s manufacturing jobs are still limited to the assembly of the flashy electric Fisker Karma sports car in Finland.
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Let’s do the math.
239 cars produced for 2012 model year.
$529,000,000 USD in Government loans
That works out to $2,213,389 (2.2 million) per car.
Selling price $103,000 USD, that leaves only $2,110,389 in taxpayer funded overhead per vehicle. And, they’ve only sold 50 so far.
Such a deal.
Of course, when your promotion strategy revolves around a sitcom based on Charlie Sheen, such things are bound to happen:
Full story at GreenCarReports.com
The 2012 Fisker, the peoples car affordable to Internet billionaires and Hollywood actors, fire extinguisher not included.
Sorry, forgot to say, this is the quote of the week.
kim says:
January 1, 2012 at 8:56 am
My Karma electrocuted my Dogma.
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As someone who spent many years as an electrical/electronics engineer I’m quite interested in the concept of hybrid vehicles, I just wish they received grants due to their technological merits not their politcal value. As for all electric cars, well my university has no charging points, besides I believe that those vehicles should be termed, DPVs, Displacement Pollution Vehicles, if we are going to be honest about them.
Revolting!
The financial mugging and raping of America is everyday, front page news…. and hardly draws a raised eyebrow by the mainstream media or the majority of citizens.
Revolting…..
James Sexton says:
January 1, 2012 at 11:39 am
“Is everyone feeling stimulated, yet?”.
No. As I politely instructed all progressive socialists back in Feb 2009, “Get your greedy, grasping, wealth redistributing hands out of my pockets ’cause I do NOT find it stimulating!”
How about requiring that all cars carry fire extinguishers… that will help save the economy and by extension American society and revive the culture of dead and dying Europe, no?
Well I followed the link and read the article.
Can someone explain to me how “loan guarantee” was magically transformed into “loan” in the original article. As far as I can tell if it’s a guarantee it means the federal gov is NOT providing the 529 million.
There is also in the article the explicit assertion that the 529 million of presumably US funds, wherever they came from, is NOT being spent in Finland. How come that information disappeared?
I know you guys are going to get all excited by this, but maybe the facts need to be checked first.
Related and a bigger issue. Are you aware that there are only 80 million people in the USA of generation X who have had 40 million kids?
EEErrrr, Mr Obama. Your running out of other peoples money çause your running out of productive people. There’s not going to be enough productive people to pay all this back!
This is repeated throughout Europe and the rest of the West, I’d suggest.
I wondered how one would heat an electric car in winter. Would drain the battery rather quickly. Fisker seems to have solved that.
How much carbon does a burning car give off? Oops I just tripped over somebody’s carbon footprint….
Does anybody know who the 50 people are that currently own a Dogma…i mean a Karma?
http://socyberty.com/politics/dicaprio-the-first-who-owns-a-fisker-karma-fisker-karma-was-lauched/
Dicaprio must be bumming…who else?
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1070132_electric-car-hating-top-gear-names-fisker-karma-luxury-car-of-the-year
What is the BBC going to say about their Luxury Car of the Year now?
http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/top-gear-magazine-awards-issue-out-now-2011-11-30#
Lazy Teen,
A loan guarantee is the same as co-signing for a teenager’s loan so he can buy a car. If the car loan isn’t repaid [think Solyndra, or Fisker], then the co-signers [the taxpayers] are on the hook. See?
Mac the Knife says:
January 1, 2012 at 12:35 pm
James Sexton says:
January 1, 2012 at 11:39 am
“Is everyone feeling stimulated, yet?”.
No. As I politely instructed all progressive socialists back in Feb 2009, “Get your greedy, grasping, wealth redistributing hands out of my pockets ’cause I do NOT find it stimulating!”
=================================================
Exactly, this is what happens when people who don’t understand basic economics are put in charge. They have huge capital outlays for fantasy programs with very little chance of success.
Can the 99% afford one? Where is Occupy Fisker?
The other problems I read about related to the fire hazard in one kind of battery they use.
Seems the logical solution is just longer extension cords.
My dad had an electric car approximately 20 years ago. He lived a few miles out of town so it was great for popping in to town and doing some shopping. However, the range was very much less than advertised. He lived in a mountainous area and 30 miles of driving in such terrain really took its toll on performance. Even worse at night with headlights draining the battery, or in winter with the heater and windscreen wipers draining the battery.
It was rather a novelty in the area and if my dad went to a restaurant or pub (or even out of town shopping area), he always got his car charged up for free. The proprietor was only too happy to roll out an extension lead to that the car could be plugged into the mains. This did, of course, help extend the range a little bit.
Electric cars have no doubt come on a bit since then but they are not a practical proposition for most users and save no CO2 until such time as electricity is generated by non CO2 emitting renewables.
Presently, the environmental claims surrounding the use of electric cars is a scam
I wouldn’t say it’s sharp looking. It looks like a copy of a BMW M8 that was sat on by someone heavy.
And the M8 is not that much of a looker either, IMHO.
We just plain need *much* lighter batteries before I will even start to care about electric cars.
Despite the age of the technology, it’s still in it’s infancy for lack of materiel advances. We’re in a position where the government is trying to impose an immature form of the technology. It’s almost as if the use of DC power distribution was mandated at the expense of AC, leading to a world where long-distance power delivery was prohibitively difficult.
LazyTeenager says:
January 1, 2012 at 1:35 pm
Well I followed the link and read the article.
“Can someone explain to me how “loan guarantee” was magically transformed into “loan” in the original article. As far as I can tell if it’s a guarantee it means the federal gov is NOT providing the 529 million.”
It’s not MAGIC its called Solyndra.
“There is also in the article the explicit assertion that the 529 million of presumably US funds, wherever they came from, is NOT being spent in Finland. How come that information disappeared?”
Stop being ‘lazy’ and learn some basic economics like the concept of fungibility
….and I forget your last point LazyTeenager…what was it?
I love it when Anthony gets really pissed off 🙂
Under federal regulations dealers may not sell the remaining new models until the recall is completed.
Sprinkler systems and foam bags?
LazyTeenager says:
January 1, 2012 at 1:35 pm
Well I followed the link and read the article.
Can someone explain to me how “loan guarantee” was magically transformed into “loan” in the original article. As far as I can tell if it’s a guarantee it means the federal gov is NOT providing the 529 million. …….
==========================================================
LT, that’s hardly the point. The point is, 1/2 billion dollars is taken out of the capital pool and thrown away on a senseless venture. The money could have been used to open a steel fab plant to help build a pipeline. Instead, it was thrown away. Now, the question is, when this company goes belly up, will the U.S. be on the hook for the loan? Well, we guaranteed it. So, if we are, 1/2 billion out of the capital pool, another 1/2 billion as a federal expenditure. All for what? Some insipidly stupid fantasy of perpetual motion. In the mean time, we have millions looking for work in the U.S.
These loans and stimuli have done incredible harm to the U.S.economy and people. Clearly, the socialists in charge are out of their depth.
Fisker Keynes.
Nick says:
January 1, 2012 at 1:41 pm
Related and a bigger issue. Are you aware that there are only 80 million people in the USA of generation X who have had 40 million kids?
EEErrrr, Mr Obama. Your running out of other peoples money çause your running out of productive people. There’s not going to be enough productive people to pay all this back!
This is repeated throughout Europe and the rest of the West, I’d suggest.
__________________________
It’s even worse than that.
Ever increasing numbers of each generation are born into families well versed in the tradition of ‘entitlement’ existence and will never be more than a drag on the system their entire lives.
This will all be offset somewhat by the fact that the 13 million or so illegals will have jobs and 43.16 million offspring with potential to become gainfully employed, which will in turn be offset somewhat by the several millions of infirm, aged and otherwise non- working illegal family members still at home awaiting the coyote’s fee and who will also become a drain on resources.
$2million a car, $4million a car… IT’S JUST IMAGINARY NUMBERS to them.
None of the bozos on Capitol hill pay their own bills, buy their own gas or meals.
The just sign and go on while we foot their bills….
“They’re for the intellectual elite who want to show what enlightened souls they are…so there are not enough idiots who will buy it.”
Hmmm… I’m not so sure. ‘Intellectual elites’ are stuffed to the gunnels with idiots. Thus it has always been:
Acts 17:21: “All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.”
239 car recall?
-That’s nothing.
>>>tallbloke says: January 1, 2012 at 9:32 am
>>>Pity Halon fire extinguishers were banned by the ozone hole worriers.
But not for aircraft – yet. Halon is the only thing that will keep you safe when a fire breaks out at 40,000 ft. But the Greens still want to ban it, because they really do not care about anyone, except whales and dolphins.
But the Greenie zealots did manage to ban the water repellent for windscreens. So if you are ever landing in heavy rain, you will be pleased to know that the pilots now have to land by braille. Honestly, we cannot see a thing sometimes. This was not helped by Billy Boeing fixing the windscreen wipers. Originally these were rejects from the Model ‘T’, and used to sound like a Kenworth W900 on a 25% gradient. The fix was simple – install a smaller motor, and reduce the wiper pressure on the windscreen to a level where they simply do not work. Thanks, Billy.
You know, I spent the first 25 years of my life with technology and society surging upwards, but we crested the hill in 1985, and it has been downhill from then on.
.