Lutz Group, Chinese Supplier Offer to Buy Fisker

VL Automotive, a boutique carmaker co-founded by Bob Lutz, and China's Wanxiang Group have offered to acquire Fisker Automotive Inc. if the ailing hybrid carmaker files for bankruptcy, according to Reuters.

Unnamed sources tell Reuters the partners propose to buy Fisker, maker of the $107,900 Karma plug-in hybrid sedan, through a prepackaged bankruptcy. None of the companies involved has commented.

Rumors have circulated for more than a month that Fisker is preparing to enter Chapter 11. The company stopped making the Karma last summer. In April it missed a $20 million payment on its $192 million loan from the U.S. Dept. of Energy. DOE promptly seized $21 million in cash from the company.

Reuters notes that both co-bidders have an interest in Fisker's revival. VL Automotive is promoting the $185,000 Destino, a conventionally powered sports sedan consisting of a modified Karma body and the 556-hp supercharged V-8 and six-speed automatic from the Cadillac CTS-V sport sedan.

In January Wanxiang bought most of the assets of bankrupt A123 Systems Inc., Fisker's source of lithium-ion batteries, for $257 million.

Fisker Chairman Henrik Fisker left the company in March, citing "major disagreements" with the company's executives. Reuters says he has been talking to investors since then about a role for himself if the carmaker can be revived under new ownership.