China-based auto parts manufacturer Wanxiang has closed the acquisition of the car production plant belonging to hybrid electric vehicle maker Fisker Automotive, after winning an auction to buy the ailing company last month.
Wanxiang secured Fisker’s assets at a bankruptcy auction on February 14 with a bid of $149.2m. It intends to restart production of Fisker’s flagship sports hybrid vehicle, the Karma, and the Delaware manufacturing facility, which made up the last part of Fisker’s assets, has now been fully transferred at a cost of $18m.
Founded in 2007, Fisker raised more than $900m in funding from several venture capital firms, as well as A123 Systems, the advanced battery maker acquired by Wanxiang for $256.6m in January 2013, after its own bankruptcy. A123 had been Fisker’s battery supplier and its bankruptcy, as well as the delivery of faulty batteries, played a substantial part in Fisker’s decline.
Wanxiang plans to restart production of the Karma at the Finland facility where the car has so far been produced, and to then transfer production to the United States, though it is unclear whether this will occur at the Delaware plant as a production line would need to be built at the facility first.