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Fisker Automotive aquiring GM plant in Wilmington Delaware
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Karma Fisker at the 2009 NYC Autoshow
To further prove the point that alternative propulsion vehicles are making inroads into the American automotive market, Fisker Automotive will be acquiring a mothballed GM plant in Wilmington Delaware, to produce its luxury plug-in hybrid.
The factory that has a long legacy dating back to the late 1940's and ended production this past summer, will be up and running in about 2 and half years after re-tooling. Fisker will be purchasing the factory for $18 million from the "old GM" and they selected the site due to "its size, production capacity, modern paint facilities, access to ports and rail lines and skilled workforce." (Yahoo/AP). Funds for the purchase most likely are coming from a DOE loan the company recently was approved for in the amount of $528 million. However, there isn't any concrete promise to bring back laid off GM workers. The car slated to be produced falls under their code name Project NINA. Under this plan they seem ambitious to produce this car for the world market at a competitive family price around $40,000 after tax credits are factored. This would make the Chevy Volt a main competitor, which is supposed to be roughly the same price.
This can be a good primer for the economy if the "2000 factory and more than 3000 vendor jobs by 2014" comes to fruition and the output of "75,000 to 100,000" vehicles materializes given the price tag. (Yahoo/AP). Joe Biden was present at the announcement, and seems very pleased that Delaware and Maryland will benefit.
According to the Fisker website, there are supposed to be multiple dealerships in the NYC/Newark area. Dealerships are planned for of course, Manhattan, competitor Tesla already has a dealership in the city, Long Island, Morristown, NJ and Bergen County. This could be a very strong market for the factory.
Expect to see more "independents" acquiring idled big 3 plants in the future to give a renaissance to the American car industry.
Sources: Yahoo/AP & Fisker Automotive
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