Fisker to return as Elux in 2016 after Wanxiang rebrand

Extended range electric vehicle Fisker Karma claims to be an environmentally friendly plug-in hybrid car.[Photo/Agencies]

The revival of New Fisker's hybrid sports car model will be pushed back to mid-2016 as its Chinese owner Wanxiang Group plans to rebrand the new energy car company and raise its price tags.

The Chinese auto parts maker Wanxiang plans to replace the former Fisker Karma model with the new Elux Karma, which will be priced at about $135,000, Reuters reported.

Industry insiders said that the price would be 20 percent higher than that of the former Karma, which stopped production in 2012. Tesla Motor's Model S has a starting price of $69,900, and its P85 Performance edition starts at $93,400. The popular Toyota 2015 Prius' price starts from $24,200.

Wanxiang acquired Fisker Automotive through a bankruptcy auction in March 2014 with a bid of $149.2 million in the 19th round, including $126.2 million in cash and $8 million in assumed liabilities. Soon after New Fisker announced that its then world's first premium hybrid model Karma would re-launch within a year.

Auto analyst Qiu Tianyong told China Business News that the initial Fisker team quit the company and left more than 250 defects to be fixed on the Karma model, as customers encountered fire hazards and software failures.

Ahead of the Fisker deal, Wanxiang bought the carmaker's battery vendor A123 Systems in 2012. The battery pack maker filed bankruptcy in 2012 and Wanxiang won the auction at $256.6 million.

After the Fisker deal, Wanxiang-owned A123 bought key battery technology from Leyden Energy Inc in June 2014 and took over key technical staff members for further development.

The Karma model used to be assembled in Finland and the A123 battery packs were produced in China.

Fisker was founded in 2007 in California and delivered the first production model Karma in mid-2011. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2013 when its second model, the Atlantic, was in the concept stage.

Wanxiang Group did not respond to this newspaper's request for comment by deadline.