Out with Tesla, in with Fisker

Last month, Michigan lost its preeminent alternative powertrain engineering lab when Tesla Motors closed up there in the face of fundraising woes. Now the state is getting another one.

Fisker Automotive said today that it would open a design and engineering center in Pontiac, Mich. The Irvine-based company, which is working on a plug-in electric hybrid sedan called the Karma, said it would hire up to 200 engineers and designers for a 34,000-square-foot facility.

"The new facility will allow us the opportunity to collaborate with our Michigan supplier base and have
everyone under one roof," said Bernhard Koehler, chief operating officer of Fisker Automotive.

That, at least, is the official story. But wagging tongues read it as the latest grenade lobbed in the increasingly nasty relations between the two carmakers as Fisker has quickly become the oil to Tesla's water, the cat to its dog, so to speak.

Tesla, headed by PayPal mogul Elon Musk, is a Northern California start-up more rooted in tech companies than automotive ones. Fisker, helmed by famed BMW and Aston Martin designer Henrik Fisker, is based in auto design capital Orange County.

Tesla's vision is for an all-electric drivetrain, while Fisker believes that a series hybrid, combining battery and gasoline power, is the best. Tesla is primarily funded by venture capital powerhouse VantagePoint Venture Partners, while Fisker's main backer is the arguably even more powerful Kleiner, Perkins Caufield & Byers. In September, Fisker closed a $65-million fundraising round; in October, Tesla, unable to close its $100-million round, was forced to lay off nearly a quarter of its workforce.

Tesla has a car in production, having delivered about 50 of its $109,000 all-electric Roadsters to date, while Fisker plans to start deliveries in the fourth quarter of next year.

In April, Tesla sued Fisker, accusing it of stealing trade secrets: Henrik Fisker had worked for Tesla as a consultant on the design of its upcoming sedan, the Model S. That suit went before an arbitrator in June and last week, Fisker won the suit in binding arbitration. Then it trumpeted the news.

In mid-October, Tesla announced it would close its design center in Rochester Hills, Mich., which employed 30 people. The company originally announced the opening of the plant in January 2007, saying that it hoped to employ as many as 60 people and that it would cost $47.7 million; in addition, Michigan gave it a $602,000 tax credit and a host of other goodies to open up shop there.

Fisker did not immediately say whether Michigan would be offering it any tax incentives, but it did gain an upper hand on space: Its engineering and development center will be 75% bigger than the 19,240-square-foot one Tesla closed. Not that anyone is measuring.

-- Ken Bensinger

Photo: A Fisker Karma prototype. Credit: Fisker Automotive

Comments

[Robert]

I don't believe a new independent integrated US automaker has suceeded since WWII. We should hope one of these companies does, but even if they do not they will have pushed the technology forward. Let's hope they don't have to become a Toyota division.

[rmoltaban]

No automake will ever succeed if they continue to let the unions run the show. The fact is clear, union run auto plants are broke and going out of business while those that have remained union free are doing very well and making money. Same with the airlines...those that have had little or no union interference are doing great and all others are going broke.

of course, the focuse of this new administration is to help the union's uninize everything. I predict super high unemployment and no jobs within 2 years.

[Andrew Schocken]

I never write in these comments sections, but this is out of pure righteous indignation. So those outrageous fees I pay to sell my Dukes of Hazzard lunchboxes on Ebay go towards making these pipedream electric cars??!! Are you kidding me? Get real, Musk. If that really is your real name.

[TheGeneral]

Speaking of Dukes of Hazzards lunchboxes, I'd rather drive the General Lee with an ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) any ol' day!