Fisker asks to reject Wanxiang Group's purchase offer

In a strange twist of events, the bankrupt Fisker Automotive has asked the court overseeing its sale to the highest bidder not to hand the brand over to the Chinese company Wanxiang Group, since it claims that Wanxiang was one of those who helped drive Fisker into bankruptcy.

For several days now, Fisker has been filing request after request with the administration appointed by the bankruptcy court handling the case, asking that the brand not be transferred to Wanxiang Group. The reason is simple and seems sound: Wanxiang Group was the company that at the time bought A123 Systems, the supplier of the batteries for the Fisker Karma. After buying it, it refused to supply batteries to Fisker, which helped push the hybrid maker into bankruptcy.

Fisker sums up its request with the phrase: “Wanxiang now wants to profit from a bankruptcy that it helped bring about itself.” Is it a “dirty strategy” by Wanxiang, or a game of interests in which Fisker will come out on top? Either way, the American court will issue its decision on January 10. The outcome could benefit Fisker, since another of the candidates is Richard Li, a Hong Kong tycoon seeking to revive the brand with a substantial cash offer and a work plan that proposes building the Fisker Karma again at the Valmet plant.

In defense of Wanxiang, China’s largest auto parts supplier, the lawyer representing them in Fisker’s bankruptcy case announced that when the Chinese bought A123 Systems, Fisker was no longer producing the Karma. A turbulent end for Fisker, one of the pioneering brands in street-legal models with new hybrid and electric technologies that went from a promising future to a sorry ending.

Via | Reuters