The Auto Writer

My opinion of Fisker Automotive dropped several notches ever since news began to surface that the upstart PHEV automaker would be purchasing a shuttered Delaware car plant from the Old GM, legally known as the Motors Liquidation Company. After all, what good could come of it if Fisker was visiting the same government trough frequented by General Motors and Chrysler?

Veep Joe Biden

That grand news was confirmed on Tuesday when Vice President Joe Biden met with officials from the Irvine, California based company and with United Auto Workers (UAW) members to announce that Fisker was buying the plant for $18 million.

Oh, by the way, the $18 million comes out of a $529 million loan the Energy Department gave Fisker last month. More taxpayer money being used to prop up the car industry, I suppose.

Due Diligence

Fisker will close on the deal some four months out, once due diligence has been completed. Likely, they’ll be checking the property real close to make sure that no toxic waste pools are found out back, because the last thing green Fisker wants is to be saddled with a plant that is an EPA nightmare. Given its proximity to Washington, DC, you have to figure that someone influential from the EPA will be paying the former GM Boxwood plant a personal visit on their lunch hour.

Biden made sure that everyone knew that UAW Local 435 would be represented at the Fisker plant. Yes, it will be a union shop which might work because it will build Fisker’s newest vehicle there, dubbed NINA, for a base price of around $50,000. With some 2000 people expected to be employed to build 75-100,000 units annually, the plant could end up becoming a cash cow. Oh, by the way, at least $7500 in federal tax credits will be available for NINA buyers.

2012 Start

While Fisker waxed philosophical about the NINA, the car has yet to be designed, let alone engineered. Still, the little automaker who could or would expects that the plant will become fully operational again come 2012, which gives effected workers the next two years off, at least.

Though the Fisker news is all about NINA building this week, eyes will soon turn to Finland where the $89,000 Karma sedan will soon be built for consumers across Europe as well as the United States and Canada. Valmet Automotive, who currently builds two Porsche models – Boxster and Cayman – and the Think City EV beginning fall 2010, has agreed to supply the Karma to the world.