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.”

Geely and Dongfeng now appear to be the only two firms in the running to buy a majority stake in Fisker Automotive. Geely, the current frontrunner, also owns Volvo, which is working on its own plug-in hybrids. The deal would potentially put two prominent PHEV players under one roof, with both Fisker and Volvo eager to make more affordable plug-in hybrids.

With production now stopped for seven months, it's a relief to hear Fisker founder Henrik Fisker tell reporters at the Chicago Auto Show that production of the Karma will resume "fairly soon." Hopefully, that's soon enough for the struggling automaker as supply of the Karma is slowly dwindling down to next-to-nothing.