Fisker Karma

Think back to 2007, when the war on terror was in full swing, the housing bubble had yet to burst, and venture capitalists couldn’t get enough of green tech startups. And a small automotive company was founded in by automotive designer Henrik Fisker and his business partner Bernhard Koehler. From the start, Fisker Automotive had grandiose designs: to build and sell a luxury plug-in hyrbid sports sedan. But the car failed to gain the support of the EV crowd.

Fisker Automotive, the maker of a $100,000 sleek plug-in hybrid, might be moving toward bankruptcy, but the company still has a future. That’s the message conveyed by a former Fisker employee with knowledge about the company’s operations, in an exclusive interview with PluginCars.com. According to the source, media reports depicting Fisker Automotive at a permanent dead-end are based on unsubstantiated information about negotiations with China-based companies vying to buy the company. Stories were leaked in order to devalue the company and drive it into bankruptcy, so an acquiring company could get a better deal.

Henrik Fisker resigned from Fisker Automotive today, citing “several major disagreements” with executive management over “business strategy.”