Is Fisker Automotive the next Solyndra? Maybe, but that misses the larger point.
William Tucker
The American Spectator
2/14/2012
Fisker Automotive suspended efforts in Delaware last week to retool an abandoned GM production plant into a manufacturing facility for its new electric hybrid NINA, derived from the $104,000 luxury Karma.
Fisker’s problem is that it is the recipient of a $529 million loan from the Department of Energy. Having already pocketed $193 million to help push the $104,000 Karma onto the market, Fisker is now “failing to meet DOE benchmarks” in converting the Wilmington, Delaware factory into an assembly line for the $40,000 NINA. In the kind of accounting the government likes in order to show it isn’t just throwing away money, DOE wanted some proof of performance. Fisker is already far behind schedule, and so it had to lay off 26 of the 100 construction workers on site and tell subcontractors to hold the phone. Negotiations on whether DOE will come through with the second $336 million installment are now expected to take months.
Pundits immediately pounced, asking whether this was the next Solyndra. Some said yes, others said no. Yet through all the editorial fulminating, no one asked the much more obvious question: Why on earth is the government subsidizing a $104,000 luxury sports car in the first place?…
The article continues at The American Spectator
