Why Does Competition Over Green Tech Spur Gore Baiting?
You may have heard about the "Gore-backed" car company that got more than $500 million to make a sports car. What you may have missed: the government is backing green technology and a plan to make it popular.
The loan in question (reported by the Wall Street Journal) is the fourth conditional loan commitment the Department of Energy has entered into under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan program. The DOE reports that the loan is for the development of two cars -- one a high performance sports car and another family version that will list for around $40,000. Additionally, the loan will create more than 5,000 green jobs.
The company's founder, Henrik Fisker, has designed cars for BMW, Aston Martin and another electric car manufacturer. The latter of which, the Tesla, retails for $109,000. The Fisker Karma will cost about $30,000 less, and presumably pack more punch. He has a track record, quite literally, for making high-performance cars that garner a lot of attention, and his career is on the rise.
The $25 billion ATVM program was established by Congress in 2007 to provide incentives for auto maker investment in green technology in keeping with a congressional mandate to improve fuel efficiency. The DOE has already awarded $8 billion to Ford and Nissan. Fisker's former employer, Tesla, got $465 million from the same program. The $529 million jumpstart Fisker received will introduce a much-needed competitive edge to a sparsely populated market.
The government was right to pick Fisker. Opponents of the loan argue that it will help finance something only the wealthy can afford--an $89,000 sports car. The argument is either the product of dogma or Exhibit A in the case for why said opponents have jobs as watchdogs and critics: they have no native feel for how to win on the open market.
So let's look at a thumbnail sketch of the plan. Al Gore opts in to buy a Fisker Karma the minute he hears about it. Of course he does. So do a bunch of elites. It's a hot car. It's green. Very sexy. That's a pretty standard move in marketing circles. Get influentials on board and work your wait to Joe America.
Fisker puts 15,000 cars a year on the streets. These fast, over-performing cars are a sight to behold, the topic of bar room conversation. It gets more than 100 miles to the gallon and can travel 50 miles on electric power while providing all the torque of a German sports car. Gore opting in on the pricey version: a priceless amount of marketing for the $40,000 sedan that follows.
Compare to the sour grapes competition referred to in the Journal piece: O. John Collett of Eco Motors International asked for $20 million from the same program and was turned down. Check out the above-linked Eco Motors site. Exciting, huh? Now compare it to Fisker.
Which one would you invest in?
Originally published by Air America.
Follow Beau Friedlander on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BeauFriedlander
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It is great to be connected to this government....probably critical.
"The DOE reports that the loan is for the development of two cars -- one a high performance sports car and another family version that will list for around $40,000. Additionally, the loan will create more than 5,000 green jobs. "
And where will those jobs be. *hint* not in the US.
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How do you know? Best not right the script. We know only that the Karma will be built there.
No. The question is how do you know. I fal to see a single scrap of evidence in your thread o any other article about this that the loan will result in a single job in the US. Yu pull a conclusion from the air that it will with no evidence to support that claim despite all evidence to the contrary. Best not to write the huff po column without any facts or support, I would think. I'm all for green tech. But this type of loan needs to be conditioned on being available only if manufacturing is moved to the US.
It's complicated. Fisker engages in radical outsourcing compared to any other automaker. Only 100 people actually work for Fisker. They only do design and marketing themselves. Everything else is subcontracted to numerous businesses from around the world, including the United States.
For example, the Karma's lithium-ion battery pack will be manufactured by EnerDel in Indianapolis. The interior trim is manufactured in America by a Canadian corporation. And Fisker is building a new flagship R&D center in Pontiac, Michigan that will employ 200 well-paid design engineers.
Ah. Real information. Such a rare commodity on this site.
What do you expect form the WSJ?
Seriously?
Do not ever forget what that paper told President Obama early in his adminsitration!
We were warned:
Australians warned us not to allow Rupert Murdoch to infiltrate our free press standards
England warned us not to allow Rupert Murdoch to infiltrate our free press standards
Sir Richard Branson said something like "if we let him, Murdock will destroy democracy".
We ignored Australia and England- look at the dumb down we got!
WSJ- Dumb it Down President!
Wall Street Journal- Once the most trustworthy news in the WORLD
Pitiful and shameful
WSJ: Dumb it Down Mr. President!
"The government was right to pick Fisker. Opponents of the loan argue that it will help finance something only the wealthy can afford--an $89,000 sports car. "
baloney. Opponents argue that it will help finance the building of the car IN FINLAND. That is the issue. US taxpayer money being used to subsidize foreign growth.
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If you read the DOE statement, they specify that 5000 domestic jobs will be created. Parts and service. But yes the car will be built in Finland. Perhaps we could have built it here if the teabaggers and Glenn Beck didn't oust Van Jones. That's his specialty: creating green tech jobs in the US....
5000 down stream jobs is an idiotic argument. It means jobs to service the cars purchased in teh US. Those jobs would exist anyway as there will not be enough Fiskers on the road to support Fisker only repair shops. 500,000 for jobs that would already exist is a lousy deal. Better to have either give the money to 500 US based manufacturers for another type of product if necessary or to have conditioned it on manufacturing being located in the US.
It's borderline treason and for this dem voter it's unforgivable. Green is absolutely secondary to economic recovery and green at all costs is moronic. Green manufacturing is a means to an end, not teh end; i.e., non-out-sourcable US based manufacturing jobs.
"Gore-backed" says it all.
So let me get this right. 5 billion+ of our tax dollars are handed over without a blink of an eye to fund a foreign car-maker Al Gore likes. A car-maker of a product the majority of middle america would NOT be able to afford mind you.
Ok, so explain please, maybe I missed the fine print,
1. This creates American jobs how?
2. Since we, as tax payers, are investing our money (which oh gee could go for any number of things needed in THIS country) in this company do we all stand to profit (in dollar value) the way Al Gore will? If the answer to #2. is yes....well then count me in!!!
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Okay, you're a bit off here. 500 million, not 5 billion. Fisker is based in Irvine, CA--not foreign. The cars will be manufactured in Finland, but will create 5,000 jobs here in the States. Much more--8 billion--went to Ford and Toyota. Gore had nothing to do with that. Gore-backed says it all about the dogma underlying this attack, but nothing about the beauty of government subsidies at work. You should be proud!
$ 5 Billion is a line of credit. The Company has to put up at least 60 % of the $5 Billion in Equity for Security to the banks making the deal . SBA.gov see the programs.
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