NEW YORK –
Unless it receives a last-minute rescue, Fisker is “poised to become another
DeLorean Motor Co. or Tucker Corp., a symbol of the difficulties of creating
entirely new car companies,” writes the Wall Street Journal. But it also
represents “one of the most prominent failures of the government's use of
public funds to wean American industry from fossil fuels — and of how that
government interest pushed Fisker to reach too far.”
At its peak, Fisker was one of the largest U.S. venture capital backed companies ever.
Founders raised more than $1 billion from Silicon Valley venture funds
and they recruited backers such as Al Gore and former Oracle Corp. president Ray Lane.
Fisker’s largest single investor, however, was the Obama administration. “In 2009, the
Obama administration's interest in cultivating electric cars got the untested
Fisker loans totaling $529 million, more than the company had initially
requested, and an amount that encouraged private backers to chip in more funds.
At one point, backers valued the company at $1.8 billion,” writes the
Journal.
The newspaper brings light to how Fisker’s wheels fell off so quickly: “Fisker got
its start in 2007, a year before U.S. gasoline prices hit $4.11 a gallon and
seemed headed to $5 a gallon. The fuel spike and global cash crunch helped put
General Motors and Chrysler Group in government-led bankruptcies. Its
co-founder, Henrik Fisker, was a highly regarded designer for luxury brands
Aston Martin and BMW and armed with an idea ripe for the times.”
Even with backing from the government and wealthy investors, Fisker had problems with suppliers and regulatory requirements, as well as software issues
on display screens. Finally, in May 2011, the Obama administration, “under
pressure from critics of its alternative energy spending and after the
high-profile failure of U.S.-backed solar panel maker solar panel makerSolyndra
LLC,” writes the newspaper, froze disbursements to Fisker.
Today, Fisker is headed for bankruptcy, and the U.S. could end up the owners of all or
part of the company's assets “because its loans were backed by Fisker assets.”