Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Fisker Automotive Taps Finnish Firm For Manufacturing

Irvine-based Fisker Automotive, the Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers and Palo Alto Investors-backed plug-in hybrid vehicle maker, said today that it has inked a letter of intent with Finland-based Valmet Automotive to manufacture its cars. Valmet Automotive currently produces specialty cars like the Porsche Boxter and Cayman for Porsche AG. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Fiskery Automotive said that Valmet will start rolling off its Fisker Karma auto in the fourth quarter of 2009. Fisker's plug-in-hybrid sports sedan will have a range of 350 miles, and is targeted at the luxury sports car market. Fisker's powertrain is coming from Irvine-based Quantum Technologies.

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