Fisker to come back as Elux in 2016

A year ago, Chinese Wanxiang Group won the auction for bankrupt hybrid sports car startup Fisker.

Fisker Automotive was one of the shiny companies of the green car segment for a short while. Fisker won a massive DOE loan to help it build its hybrid car the Karma. Fisker entered into Bankruptcy end of 2013 and the assets have been auctioned off in Feb. of 2014. Chinese company Wanxiang American Corporation has won the auction. The final big that sealed the deal was valued at about $149.2 million. The deal included $126.2 million in cash and $8 million in assumed liabilities.

Today one year after Wanxiang took over the remains of Fisker, China Daily reports that the car parts maker will relaunch Fisker as Elux in 2016. The Karma car will be rereleased as Elux Karma. The sources of China Daily say that the Elux Karma will be priced at $135,000 and will still be a hybrid car.

Fisker was co-founded by famous Danish car designer Henrik Fisker. He designed iconic cars like the Aston Martin DB9 and the BMW Z8.

The Fisker Karma was the challenger of Tesla Motors two years ago. While Tesla thrived, Fisker took some wrong turns. 

If the market will be welcoming the Elux Karma remains to be seen. Wanxiang is supposed to invest millions in updating the technology inside the Karma. The design is supposedly staying the same, which is fine as the car has still stunning looks.

Plug-in hybrids are though now becoming a standard offering of the big car companies like BMW and others. BMW as wtih the BMW i8 a flashy offering on the market right now. Porsche offers the Panamera S E-Hybrid that would match the Elux Karma four-door sport sedan concept.

About Wanxiang:

Wanxiang America Corporation, based in Chicago, is the U.S. home office of Wanxiang Group Companies China. U.S. companies and customers can deal in U.S. dollar currency and U.S. contracts when working with China.

Involved in automotive and industrial markets in the U.S., Wanxiang America is the source for all of Wanxiang Group/China’s products in the United States. Also based here is the American arm of the America-China Bridge Program, a unique program to give American companies an inside track when trading with China.

Wanxiang has setup a site for their Fisker investment. The site highlights the Fisker Atlantic. The Atlantic was a smaller version of the Karma.