The Fisker Karma, an $88,000 plug-in hybrid sports car that was scheduled to hit showrooms this summer, has been pushed back until next year. Though the first few customers can expect their orders to be filled by the end of the 2010, a company spokesman says that full production will not begin until "the first three months of 2011."

Fisker says that financing from private equity markets is the culprit for the delay, not design or technical issues. So far, the automaker has raised nearly $190 million dollars in private capital and has been given an additional $528.7 million in government loans from the Energy Department.

Today, a bankruptcy judge approved Fisker's acquisition of a shuttered 3.2 million-square-foot former General Motors factory in Wilmington, Del., at a cost of $20 million. Fisker says that once renovations are complete on the plant, it will be capable of producing more than 100,000 vehicles a year. That capacity could come in handy once the company's less expensive offerings begin to hit the market. First up will be a $48,000 sedan that's currently being called "Project Nina," due out in 2012, but Fisker hopes to bring a vehicle that sells in the $30,000 range soon.