Fisker Automotive named a new chief executive on Tuesday and said its plans to build a new hybrid-electric car in Wilmington are on track despite the absence of a planned loan from the U.S. Department of Energy.
“We are getting the program ready,” said incoming CEO Tom LaSorda. “We are in very, very good shape to continue to develop the vehicle.”
LaSorda, a former chief executive of Chrysler, joined Fisker last December as vice chairman and advisor to the management team. He said Tuesday Fisker continues to seek private funding to develop the Wilmington program, known as Project Nina, but is also hoping to revive a $529 million federal government loan that was withdrawn last year because the company missed deadlines on production, sales and environmental standards that were conditions for the loan.
“We are going to look for alternative sources of funding including the DOE,” LaSorda said during a webinar to announce his appointment as CEO and the move of co-founder Henrik Fisker to the position of executive chairman.
In early February, the company laid off 26 workers who were preparing the old GM Boxwood Road plant in Wilmington for Fisker production, and “temporarily delayed” work on the Nina project because it had to renegotiate the DOE loan.
That followed a recall in January of the company’s $103,000 luxury Karma model, a plug-in electric hybrid, because of a possible fire risk in connection with hose clamps on its battery.
LaSorda declined to predict when Nina production might start. “We really can’t say when the production will start,” he said. “That will depend on the funding.”
Project Nina was due to begin producing prototypes late this year and to start selling to the public in mid-2013. The original schedule planned on full production by 2014, creating 1,500 jobs. The car is expected to sell for $50,000-$60,000.
Fisker has received no money from the DOE since last May and is generating revenue from the Karma, of which about 2,000 have been made and 840 sold in North America, LaSorda said. “We are generating revenue for this company,” he said.
Henik Fisker, who in his new position will focus on building the company’s brand worldwide, said the DOE funding had become a “political football” in an election year after criticism of the Obama administration for lending money to the now-bankrupt solar-panel maker Solyndra.
Alan Levin, director of the Delaware Economic Development Office, welcomed Fisker's management shakeup, saying that it allows Henrik Fisker to focus on his role as visionary and for Lasorda to contribute his extensive experience of auto-industry management.
After having helped secure federal bailout funds for Chrysler in 2009, the new chief executive may also be in a good position to revive the flow of funds from the DOE, Levin said.
He described negotiations over the DOE loan as "still going back and forth" and said production of the Nina would not begin until public or private funds are available. It would take six months from the release of funds until the first test vehicles appear, Levin said.
"There isn't going to be Nina production until they secure the DOE or other suitable funding from other sources," he said.
Fisker has a proven product and deserves government support for its startup operation, he said. "They were moving forward, and to stop it now would be foolish."
DOE spokespeople were not immediately available to comment on the loan negotiations.
Asked whether the company would consider an alliance with a larger automaker, LaSorda said he would consider any approach from another company but is not actively seeking partners.
“We certainly would be open to that but we certainly are not out there in the marketplace looking for that,” he said.
LaSorda, an industry veteran who led Chrysler from 2005 to 2007, said he had accepted the offer to come out of retirement and head Fisker after spending two months examining the company’s books and plans.
“I would never have taken this job if I didn’t think the future of this company was bright,” he said.
(Updated at 2/28/12 at 4pm -adding reaction from DEDO Secretary Alan Levin)
