A123 Wants to Void Contract With Fisker, Fisker Says That Would Disrupt "Ongoing Business"
While Johnson Controls and China’s Wanxiang Group have competing bids to acquire the assets of advanced battery maker and Fisker supplier A123, a more serious battle is occurring in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware between the startup automaker and what is arguably its most important vendor. A123 wants the bankruptcy judge to void its contracts including those for supplying batteries to Fisker. That could stop production of Fisker’s only car, the Karma.
Of course this is about money. One reason why A123 is in bankruptcy court in the first place is because of the financial hit the company took due to a recall of defective batteries supplied to Fisker. Since the companies are interdependent, my guess is that if the judge does throw out the contract, a new one will be cut, either between A123 and Fisker, or between whichever company, Johnson or Wanxiang, ends up owning A123’s battery factories.
With such an important vendor in bankruptcy court, Fisker is between a rock and something that would peg a Rockwell tester.
According to Fisker attorneys, “ the rejection of the Fisker contract represents an immediate threat of significant disruption and harm to Fisker’s business, with a corresponding negative impact on Fisker’s lenders, suppliers, customers and investors.” One of those lenders, of course, is the United States Treasury, American taxpayers having loaned Fisker almost 200 million dollars.
Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can dig deeper at Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don’t worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks for reading– RJS
Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, the original 3D car site.
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I live in Seattle and work within a few miles of the Tesla dealership and shoot billiards (competitively) a few miles from the Fisker dealership in Bellevue. Interestingly, I’ve seen no less than a half dozen of these vehicles dead on the side of the road (dead as in "not enough juice to turn on the hazard lights" not as in "road kill") on various freeways around the city. Either their owners are idiots, or these are simply not very good vehicles to have even in the best of times.
I live in Southern California and I see Tesla's, Leafs, and Volts every day. Haven't seen the new Tesla yet, just the roadster.