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" Two years ago, when Vice President Joe Biden announced the U.S. government would give a $528 billion loan to Fisker, he heralded the new firm as a company that would create jobs by building cars in an old GM factory near Wilmington in Biden&amp;#039;s home state of Delaware. But Fisker&amp;#039;s first car, the Karma, is being built in Finland. That fact, along with some other bad press about the company, led some observers to wonder whether Fisker shook down the government when it got that money. But as usual, there&amp;#039;s more to the story. First of all, Fisker building the Karma overseas is old news. We reported that back in 2009, and it was always part of the plan.  The Karma, which is about to arrive in showrooms, is a plug-in hybrid sedan that costs $88,400 (after the $7500 federal tax credit). This is a luxury ride that will never sell at high enough volume to keep a car company afloat. It&amp;#039;s a get-the-ball-rolling car for Fisker. The company&amp;#039;s next car, a project currently named Nina, is the auto that will be built at the Delaware plant. And that car will be much closer to a mainstream product. Details are slim at this point, but we know it will be some type of hybrid and cost closer to $40,000. Production is slated to begin late next year, and the cars will be delivered in 2013.  So Fisker is sticking to its original business plan. But none of this guarantees that the federal loan will pay off and Fisker will be a success. For one, it&amp;#039;s unclear how many Karmas the company will sell. For another, who knows what kind of teething problems might arise for this brand-new company building an all-new car. We recently drove the 2012 Karma and came away impressed, but its official mileage figures from the EPA haven&amp;#039;t been terribly inspiring. And then there&amp;#039;s the cost of developing the second car. Yes, the company has half a billion dollars from the U.S. government, but that&amp;#039;s just a starting point. Existing car companies spend multiple billions and several years to develop an all-new car that meets all the emission and safety regulations. Don&amp;#039;t forget the factory tooling Fisker needs to buy and set up in Delaware.  The dramatic failure of the solar energy firm Solyndra, which received a Department of Energy loan guarantee of $535 million, has raised skepticism about the wisdom of such loans across the board. Economists debate how much the DOE loan program actually stimulates the economy or hastens the development of alternative-energy technology. But there&amp;#039;s little question that attempting to launch a major auto company from scratch is a long shot, and an extremely risky venture for any investor, whether public or private. So while Fisker did not deceive U.S. officials about where it planned to build its first car, some American taxpayers may be feeling a bit of buyer&amp;#039;s remorse. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/hybrid-electric/a7250/when-will-fisker-build-cars-in-the-us-6522378/?click=pm_latest>