NYC Letter: Investing With Team Barry, Part I Redux -- Fisker Karma

MERRY CHRISTMAS! +5

Day 1,073 of CHOPE

Team Barry spent $529M of your money on a firetrap. Not to worry. Only the rich will incinerate.

FISKER OFFICIALLY RECALLS
239 KARMAS OVER BATTERY SAFETY ISSUE

December 29, 2011 (green.autoblog.com) - After confirming that the A123 battery in the Fisker Karma has a battery safety issue and then figuring out a way to fix the problem, Fisker and the NHTSA have announced an official recall for 239 Karmas. The official reason for the recall is that:

Within the high-voltage battery, certain hose clamps may have been positioned incorrectly during assembly. if positioned incorrectly, the battery compartment cover could interfere with the hose clamps, potentially causing a coolant leak from the cooling hoses.

Consequence: If coolant enters the battery compartment, an electrical short could occur possibly resulting in a fire.

ELECTRIC CAR COMPANY THAT RECEIVED A
$529M FEDERAL LOAN
RECALLS VEHICLES

December 30, 2011 (The Hill) - The Transportation Department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Thursday that the company, Fisker Automotive, will recall its Karma vehicles made between July 1, 2011, and Nov. 3, 2011, because of a faulty electric battery component that could cause a fire.

... The Energy Department issued a $529 million loan to Fisker in April 2010 for the development of its plug-in electric vehicles.

The administration has come under fire for issuing the loan after ABC News reported in October that Fisker is making its vehicles in Finland because it could not find a contractor in America to manufacture them.

Are any Americans benefiting from a taxpayer-financed $106,000* made-in-Finland luxury sport sedan? Without question.

Fisker is backed by California VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, of which one Al Gore happens to be a senior partner. More incriminating, Kleiner Perkins execs are Democrat donors and partner John Doerr serves on Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.

Does that mean Mr. Doerr has made a $3 dinner raffle contribution?

And the nature of these programs are going to be ones in which for every success there may be one that does not work out as well. But that’s exactly what the loan guarantee program was designed by Congress to do, was to take bets on these areas where we need to make sure that we’re maintaining our lead.

Mr. Obama,
explaining investment as gambling
NEWS CONFERENCE
WASHINGTON October 6, 2011 (White House)

Your government picks another stinker!

CHOPE.

Betting your money.

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* Not exactly the people's car. According to the National Automobile Dealers Association, the average price of a new car sold in the United States is $28,400. That's $77,600 less than the sporty Karma Fisker. Team Barry has arranged financing by the plebs to manufacture a car for the rich. [Pause.] Mr. Obama helps create the very class disparities he decries.

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UPDATE 12.31.11: Ed Morrisey at Hot Air remarks:

If and when alternate technology vehicles are ready for market and financially viable for the consumer, they will flourish if the demand exists for them and the price point is tolerable for drivers. But the "up in smoke" results of these experiments in Washington picking winners and losers on the taxpayer dime is instructive, if expensive. A123 Systems received $380 million of your money to produce batteries for cars and was also supposed to produce a lot of jobs. Instead, they’ve laid off a large portion of their workforce. A second battery maker, EnerDel, cashed in to the tune of $118 million in the form of a federal grant to make batteries for Think. They are now bankrupt. The list goes on from there.

Is anyone listening? And will they remember these stories next November?

Team Barry: Say what?