It’s official: Taxpayers aren’t going to recoup the $139 paid into the failed Fisker Automotive company that went bankrupt because it was just bought up by a Chinese parts dealer, the Wanxiang Group.
The China company bought Fisker for just over $149 million at a recent U.S. bankruptcy auction, Fox News reported.
Plans are that Wanxiang will turn around and start selling the same car, albeit a bit changed model, back to U.S. markets by the end of the year. The company will also reach out to Europe for new sales, Fox News said.
The company’s billionaire founder and chairman, Lu Guanqui, has been trying to enter the auto industry since the 1980s and is especially interested in the electric-motor field, Fox News said.
“I’ll put every cent that Wanxiang earns into making electric vehicles,” said Mr. Guanqui in previous comments reported by Bloomberg Businessweek. “I’ll burn as much cash as it takes to succeed, or until Wanxiang goes bust.”
Fisker had received taxpayer dole-outs through the Energy Department’s Advance Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Loan Program. In 2013, after taking about $139 million from taxpayers, Fisker filed for bankruptcy. The company ultimately used $192 million of taxpayer dollars before the Energy Department’s program was halted, Fox News said.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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