Fisker CEO revamps business plan amid Karma woes

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fisker Automotive, a maker of plug-in hybrid sports cars, may build its second model outside of the United States if federal funds intended to pay for the vehicle's production fall through, the company's chief executive said on Tuesday.

DETROIT — The founder and executive chairman of Fisker Automotive Inc resigned from the cash-strapped “green car” startup on Wednesday, saying he was at odds with the automaker’s top executives over business strategy. Henrik Fisker announced his abrupt departure from the maker of the Karma plug-in hybrid in an email. He declined to describe the nature of the disagreements that prompted him to leave the company, which he founded with Barny Koehler in 2007.

When you have Justin Bieber and Leonardo DiCaprio driving your cars, you must be doing something right. They are among the Hollywood glitterati who have bought into the dream of Fisker Automotive and its gas-thrifty, rule-breaking Karma that kicks sand in the face of Detroit and the world's top luxury automakers.

It turns out that when peddling a flaming paperweight (recall "Total Karma Recall: Fisker Pulls All Cars Due To Fire Risk", "As Another Fisker Karma Spontaneously Combusts, "Green" Dreams Go Up In Smoke" and of course "Fisker Karma Is First Car To Burn Underwater"), even if it is a very pretty

The loan will go toward development and production of its Karma plug-in hybrid sedan and development of Project Nina, its next-generation plug-in. In its latest bid to help finance the car of tomorrow, the Obama administration said it would lend more than $500 million to Irvine-based Fisker Automotive Inc.