Henrik Fisker, the founder and chairman of the
electric sports car company Fisker Automotive, resigned Wednesday
citing disagreements with management over business strategy.
The company has only one vehicle in production, the
100,000-dollar-plus Karma sports coupe, which is built in Finland
despite the company receiving more than 500 million dollars in a US
government credit line which has since been terminated.
Fisker Automotive announced the resignation in a brief statement
on the company website, but gave few details.
But Henrik Fisker gave some insight into his reasons in an e-mail
to the trade journal Automotive News, in which he referred to himself
in the third person.
"The main reasons for his resignation are several major
disagreements that Henrik Fisker has with the Fisker Automotive
executive management on the business strategy."
His resignation came as the company is in advanced negotiation
with Zhejiang Geely, the Chinese holding company which owns Volvo,
over plans to launch a sedan that would cost just half the amount of
the Karma. Scheduled to be called the Atlantic, the vehicle would be
manufactured at a former General Motors plant in Wilmington,
Delaware.
The company has run into frequent troubles in recent months,
including the bankruptcy of its main battery supplier A123 Systems,
and a disastrous test drive by the influential US magazine Consumer
Reports in which the car broke down and had to be towed away.
Henrik Fisker, who founded the company in 2007, ran the company as
CEO until last year, when he resigned and became executive chairman.
The company CEO is now Tony Posawatz, who previously managed the
launch of GM's Volt electric vehicle.
