German investors bidding for Fisker

A new report finds a German investment group called Fritz Nols AG has recently placed a bid for Fisker.  Largely funded by taxpayers, the failed startup hasn’t built a car in over a year and it laid off most of its work force last spring.

Led by lawyer Ingo Voit, Frankfurt-based Fritz Nols AG is reportedly offering $25 million for the company and its assets, a small amount compared to the $171 million Fisker owes the United States Department of Energy (DOE).  

Voit has closely studied Fisker’s case and he adamantly believes management issues caused the company’s demise.

“Henrik Fisker put a huge emphasis on design but he forgot that he has to sell the car as well,” explained the lawyer in an interview with German magazine Autobild.  

To return Fisker to profitability, the group of investors plans on shifting Karma production from Finland to the United States and sell about 2,500 cars year.  The company will quickly focus on expanding the lineup with the Surf, a shooting brake based on the Karma that bowed at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, and the Sunset, a two-door convertible that debuted at the 2012 Detroit Motor Show.  Fritz Nols is not immediately planning on adding the smaller Atlantic to the Fisker lineup because it will be too expensive to produce.

The DOE has not officially commented on the matter so when it will decide who takes home Fisker is not known.​  

Fritz Nols is not the only company bidding for Fisker.  Last May, founder Henrik Fisker and Hong Kong-based investor Richard Li offered the United States Department of Energy (DOE) between $25 and $30 million for the company. China’s Wanxiang and Bob Lutz’s VL Automotive have teamed up with a bid of $20 million, and Beijing Automotive (BAIC) has also manifested an interest in purchasing the company for an undisclosed sum.