Fisker

Among the bad cars that have been produced in America, what's the worst that was ever sold? A lot of vehicles come to mind. The remarkably ugly 1975 AMC Pacer? Here's what the editors of Edmunds.com say about the car: “Desperate AMC bets on weird and wide small car with a fishbowl greenhouse and archaic six-cylinder drivetrain. It's been an icon of disenfranchised losers ever since.” Then there is the equally tortured 2001 Pontiac Aztek, which may win the award for ugliest of all time.

Chrysler Group said Monday that its first-quarter profit fell 65% to $166 million. The automaker's earnings were hurt by higher expenses to launch new models and slower business in Europe and South America.   Revenue fell 6% to $15.4 billion compared with the same quarter a year earlier. Chrysler attributed much of the decline to the cost and the slow launch of “key” products, including new models of its Ram pickup trucks and the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee. It also invested heavily in the second-quarter production launch of an all-new Jeep Cherokee.

The White House is expected to announce this week that an Irvine automaker will be setting up shop in a recently idled General Motors plant in Vice President Joe Biden's home state of Delaware. A source in the vice president's office said Sunday that Biden would be making an announcement at the closed plant on Tuesday but would not provide further details. The Associated Press reported that Fisker Automotive Inc. of Irvine intended to revamp a Delaware factory for use to produce one of its two electric plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Honda said Friday that it will recall almost 44,000 of its tiny Fit Sport compacts to fix a problem with its stability assist software that crops up when the vehicle is equipped with certain tires. On some of the 2012 and 2013 model year cars, the yaw rate -- a force that can change the direction of the vehicle -- exceeds federal safety standards. Honda discovered the problem during testing for compliance with federal regulations.It is not aware of any crashes or injuries resulting from the problem.

Grab any electrical engineer off the street and they'll tell you salt water conducts electricity. So when super storm Sandy pushed seawater into parking lots at New Jersey's Port of Newark, significant damage to recently imported vehicles was inevitable. Fisker and Toyota learned this first-hand. Fisker fell victim to the most dramatic damage. Sixteen of its Karma vehicles caught fire and burned shortly after this week's storm. These luxury plug-in hybrid vehicles cost at least $95,000 each and count Justin Bieber and Leonardo DiCaprio among its celebrity owners.

Not long ago, Henrik Fisker was dashing up Interstate 5 to San Francisco when a highway patrolman clocked his Aston Martin roadster -- a car that Fisker himself designed -- going 97 mph. He protested. ("It was 90 at the most.") He got a ticket and set the cruise control at 70. For the next four hours, "I was overtaken by every grandmother," he said. Running late, he pressed down the pedal. This time, the radar gun caught him going 88 mph. "How long since your last ticket?"

Luxury automaker Fisker Automotive Inc. of Irvine has agreed to buy a closed General Motors assembly plant in Delaware to produce plug-in hybrid electric cars, the company said. Fisker has signed a letter of intent with Motors Liquidation Co., formerly known as General Motors Corp., to buy the Wilmington, Del., plant for $18 million.

Honda said Friday that it will recall almost 44,000 of its tiny Fit Sport compacts to fix a problem with its stability assist software that crops up when the vehicle is equipped with certain tires. On some of the 2012 and 2013 model year cars, the yaw rate -- a force that can change the direction of the vehicle -- exceeds federal safety standards. Honda discovered the problem during testing for compliance with federal regulations.It is not aware of any crashes or injuries resulting from the problem.

Zero-emission vehicles: An article in the Business section on Friday said VantagePoint Venture Partners was an investor in plug-in hybrid carmaker Fisker Automotive. VantagePoint is an investor in electric carmaker Tesla Motors.

Tesla Motors won't sell the first Model S - the electric sedan it is making at its auto factory in Fremont - until later this year, but the company has already announced plans to expand production by offering  the Model X, a sport-utility vehicle. The Palo Alto-based maker of electric vehicles unveiled the SUV, which looks more like a crossover than a traditional utility, at its Los Angeles design studios Thursday. Tesla plans to start manufacturing the vehicle at the end of 2013 with sales to begin the following year.

In a week in which beleaguered Fisker Automotive failed to make a $10-million loan payment, owners are looking to unload their cars. In some cases, they are seeing some very low offers. There were 48 listings for the high-end, hybrid electric Fisker Karma Eco-Chic and Eco-Sport cars on the Yahoo! auto sales pages. That might not seem like a lot, but the new- and used-car research company Edmunds said there were only 947 new registrations of Fisker automobiles between January 2012 and February of this year.

WASHINGTON - Top executives from failed hybrid car maker Fisker Automotive Inc. denied claims in Congress that the company had used political connections to secure $192 million in government loans to finance a flawed business plan. The executives appeared Wednesday before Congress for the first time since the Department of Energy seized $21 million Fisker had remaining in an account April 11. The Anaheim company was approved for a $529-million loan in 2010 and received $192 million before getting cut off. Fisker laid off most of its workers this month and is expected to file for bankruptcy.

Troubled sports car maker Fisker Automotive Inc. failed to make a $10-million payment on a federal government loan Monday, tipping the Anaheim company closer to a bankruptcy reorganization or liquidation. Fisker was scheduled to start to pay down about $192 million it had borrowed under the Energy Department's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program. The Energy Department said that on April 11, it “recouped the company's approximately $21 million reserve account -- funds that came from the company's sales and investors, not our loan - - and will apply those funds to the loan.” An individual familiar with the process but not authorized to speak about Fisker's debt said the government essentially swept the car company's account clean but now must wait to see if the automaker is sold or obtains new investor money before it can try to recoup more of the loan.

Stymied by unsuccessful efforts to craft a deal with Chinese investors to save the company, struggling carmaker Fisker Automotive laid off most of its workers Friday. Analysts said the move, combined with retaining a bankruptcy law firm last month, likely signals the death of the Anaheim company, which was founded by auto designer Henrik Fisker in 2007 with high hopes of selling highly styled hybrid sports cars and sedans. That could leave the federal government essentially owning the automaker.

Struggling carmaker Fisker Automotive laid off 160 employees, most of its staff, Friday as it struggles to reach a financing deal that would save the maker of the Karma hybrid sports car. The Anaheim company dismissed all but a core group of about 40 workers needed to keep the business running as it continues talks with three Chinese businesses considering buying or investing in Fisker, according to individuals familiar with Fisker's strategy....

Unless its celebrity customers such as teen idol Justin Bieber and actor Leonardo DiCaprio want to put a lot of their own cash into the business, it looks like hybrid sports car company Fisker Automotive is nearing the end of the road. Fisker has hired Kirkland & Ellis, a major bankruptcy law firm, to review the company's options while it continues to seek investment partners. “We are not commenting at this stage in the game,” said Roger Ormisher, a Fisker spokesman. “There are too many moving factors and a number of different directions this can go.” The automaker has been working for months to raise $500 million so it could restart production of the Karma, its only model, which is built in Finland.

Chrysler Group said Monday that its first-quarter profit fell 65% to $166 million. The automaker's earnings were hurt by higher expenses to launch new models and slower business in Europe and South America.   Revenue fell 6% to $15.4 billion compared with the same quarter a year earlier. Chrysler attributed much of the decline to the cost and the slow launch of “key” products, including new models of its Ram pickup trucks and the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee. It also invested heavily in the second-quarter production launch of an all-new Jeep Cherokee.

At every auto show there are certain vehicles that generate a buzz (and a crowd). Many factors — newness, rarity, performance, looks, lavish features, revolutionary technology — can make a car a crowd puller. But at this year’s L.A. Auto Show, being sexy and green seems to be as important as being fast and expensive. We looked at a few of the models that have necks craning and cameras flashing at the L.A. Convention Center. BMW CONCEPT 6 SERIES COUPE This svelte four-seater is attracting an audience at the show because, though billed as a concept, it’s widely rumored to resemble the production third-generation 6 Series due in mid-2011 — and in this status-obsessed city, we all want to see what’ll be in our neighbors’ driveways next year.

Fisker Automotive Inc., the beleaguered maker of high-end electric cars, is furloughing employees for a week to conserve cash. Callers to Fisker's Anaheim office were greeted Thursday with a voice message advising that the office was closed Friday, March 22, and would remain closed through Sunday, March 31. The furloughs, which affect more than 200 employees, came just two weeks after the company's founder resigned as executive chairman amid...

Henrik Fisker, the founder of Fisker Automotive Inc., resigned from the troubled maker of expensive hybrid vehicles Wednesday. Fisker, the executive chairman of the Anaheim company, said he left after disagreeing with the management team on the direction of the company. The automaker, which makes the $110,000 Karma plug-in hybrid sports car, has said it needs about $500 million to launch a second, less expensive model that would be made at a factory in Wilmington, Del.  It is negotiating with oversees investors and potential partners to raise the funds and says the talks are ongoing but that no agreement has been reached.