Fisker Automotive, developer of the world’s first premium plug-in hybrid, is expanding to accelerate development of its next generation plug-in hybrids, code named Project NINA.

Beginning March 1 Fisker Automotive’s global headquarters in Irvine, California will house all design, engineering, sales, marketing, and administrative operations. All positions from the company’s Pontiac, Michigan facility will be transferred, and the company expects the number of new hires to expand dramatically.

The consolidation will not affect Fisker Automotive’s partnerships with several dozen Michigan-based engineering firms and parts supply companies.

“Having our entire team in California ensures greater efficiency and speeds up development of our new plug-in hybrids,” said Henrik Fisker, CEO. “We are expanding quickly to work on both Karma and Project NINA programs at the same time.”

Fisker Automotive’s recent $115 million round of private provigil equity funding has made the changes possible ahead of schedule.

Project NINA, already in progress, will result in a line of family-oriented plug-in hybrids expected to start at $39,900 after a $7,500 federal tax credit. State and local incentives could effectively lower the price further. Fisker Automotive plans to start production in 2012 at a factory in Wilmington, Delaware formerly owned by General Motors.

The program is expected to save or create up to 5,000 direct and indirect U.S. jobs and reach an anticipated volume of 100,000 plug-in hybrids per year in 2013.

Fisker Automotive created the premium green car segment when it unveiled its Karma plug-in hybrid in 2008. Since then several major manufacturers have announced their intent to compete.

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A standout at this year’s L.A. Auto Show is Fisker Automotives’ “Karma.” This plugin hybrid was conceived in Orange County and has a sleek, sleeping aids sexy body. 

Fisker will be rolling the “Karma” into showrooms toward the end of next year.

[Source: myFOXla]

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Denmark’s Crown Prince HRH Frederik is the first individual outside the Fisker development team driving the new eco-friendly Fisker Karma. The Crown Prince will tomorrow travel to the COP15 UN Climate Conference events in Copenhagen with the plug-in hybrid car. HRH Frederik will visit at 4 pm Hopenhagen event at Raadhuspladsen after which he will leave in the Fisker Karma at 5 pm to the Bella Center.

The prototype saloon, developed by American automaker adhd Fisker Automotive, can travel 80km (50mi) emission-free on a single charge of its Lithium-ion battery, and an additional 400km (250mi) on a range extending generator turned by an efficient fourcylinder gas engine. Economy is 2.4L/100km and emissions of just 83g/km CO2 – better than today’s best hybrids. Still, the Karma can reach 100km/h (62mph) in about 6 seconds and exceed 200km/h (125mph).

[Source: Fisker Automotive]

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Much speculation has gone into theories on why Fisker Automotive picked the Wilmington Delaware plant. Was it because former Vice President Al Gore had cut an “under the table” deal with Vice President Biden? Did the UAW, as an owner of GM force them to buy the plant in order to maintain the rights to purchase the Ecotech 2.0 liter engine? Were there just not any other options out there?

Of course in truth it was none of these. The site team at Fisker had a very precise list of factors needed for a new plant. The Wilmington plant met each of the main criteria plus a bonus one or two. The top five requirements for a new plant were:

1) The facility needs to be in good condition.

Having just been recently close and the added fact that it had been retooled to produce the Pontiac Solstice in 2005 the Wilmington plant is in excellent working order.

2) The facility should have produced cars not trucks.

“The way a truck is put together is much different, ” Datz says.

Not only did the plant produce cars, it made sports cars using the same Ecotech 2.0 liter turbo engine that is currently in the Fisker Karma. The facility also used a lower powered 2.4 liter engine that could be considered for Project Nina.

3) Previous Production Quality Ratings are important.

This plant had some of the highest ratings for all GM plants.

4) There must be good port access from the plant.

Wilmington is right on the coast and the plant has great premier-pharmacy.com access to the port. This will make it easy for Fisker Automotive to export half of the cars produced throughout the world.

5) The plant must be an appropriate size for production start up and future expansion.

The plant was recently tooled to produce over 20,000 cars per year. Formerly, it had made over 300,000 cars per year. This will allow for a good starting point and great expansion opportunity. However, it’s not so big that the space would set idle for many years to come.

There were also a couple of bonus criteria that this plant made available that no other plant had to offer. First there is the state of the art paint facility.

GM’s recent upgrade of the plant’s paint shop was an important factor. “We’re looking to build cars that will compete with BMW and Mercedes-Benz,” Datz says, “and we need a good paint job.”

The second bonus was only possible due to the speed in which the deal was made between the state of Delaware, GM, and Fisker Automotive. Since the deal was expedited GM agreed to leave all the equipment currently in the facility. Most of the time this equipment would be sold off prior to the property going on the market. In this case the equipment had been properly shut down and was maintained during storage.

Once again the conspiracy theories are proven wrong. Are there any others ones that you have heard about the plant purchase? Is there still something else out there?

[Source: TheCarConnection]

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This first of it’s kind event gave 100 owners on the waiting list an opportunity to see the Fisker Karma inside and out. Mike “LACarGuy” Sullivan was a great host for the event. The evening started with an introduction from Marti Eulberg Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing for Fisker Automotive. In her talk she explained the meaning behind the logo design for Fisker Automotive. The two bars represent the two founders and the designer’s tools used in their craft. The orange color at the top represents a sunset and the blue is for the Pacific Ocean. All of this is combined to pay homage to the company’s heritage and it’s home in Irvine, CA.

From there she introduces all the representatives that were present from Fisker Automotive. There were interior designers, exterior designers, Human integration experts and several others as well. It was great to see the excitement in each of their eyes when given an opportunity to discuss their part in bringing this revolutionary new vehicle to market.

After the introductions were complete the Karma was unveiled to a round of applause and then a pause of awe that was finally broken with an invitation to get closer and take a look at the car. Attendees were given full access to the car. The lines started to form immediately to get a chance and sit inside each position of the car. Of course the best view was from the driver’s seat. The seat position feels more like the cockpit in a fight jet than the controls of a 4 door sedan. The dash is “all glass” meaning that all the gauges are digital readouts on an LCD screen. In the center of the dash is the digital control center, here all aspect of the human to vehicle interface are controlled. Everything is well within reach, it just takes a flick of a finger to move from stereo to the navigation and back again.

Overall the car is more beautiful in person than any of the pictures can do it justice. It will be interesting to see what areas get tweaks between this prototype and the pre-production models that are set to start slowly rolling off the assembly line sometime next month.

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