Irvine-based Fisker Automotive Inc. on Friday shot back at critics of a $529 million Energy Department loan landed last month, according to a report in the Detroit News newspaper.
Some reports on the low-interest federal loan “ignored or marginalized the truth, or sensationalized irrelevant aspects of the loan and our company,” Fisker Automotive told the Detroit News.
Fox News and others have criticized the loan for going to a company that plans to produce an expensive hybrid car in Europe.
Some point to the fact that Fisker has raised about $100 million in financing, including from politically connected Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Former Vice President Al Gore is a partner at the firm and has ordered a Fisker car.
Fisker is set to use $170 million of the loan to finish production of its Karma sedan, which runs off a combination gasoline and rechargeable battery engine developed with Irvine-based Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc.
The Karma is due out next summer and is set to sell for $88,000 before rebates. Fisker also is developing a sports car, the Sunset.
The rest of the loan is set to go toward developing a hybrid car designed for families and other users. Dubbed Project Nina, the car would sell for about $40,000 starting in 2012.
Fisker addressed the price issue with the Detroit News by saying, “Any new technology is expensive. Televisions, cell phones, refrigerators and even cars themselves were once too expensive for most. In time, however, costs come down.”
Critics also have taken aim at Fisker’s hiring of Finnish custom automaker Valmet Automotive OY to produce the cars.
“The low-volume Karma will be assembled in Finland by Valmet Automotive, while the next generation Karma will be built entirely in the U.S.,” the company said.
The Nina is expected to be made entirely in the U.S., it said.
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