It’s no secret Fisker Automotive is in trouble. The maker of premium electric cars is clinging to life by its fingernails. One more setback could send them plummeting into the fiery abyss of financial ruin. Still, even if they roll snake eyes the firm’s founder has more than a few thoughts on what future transportation will be like.

Earlier this year, we reported that Fisker seemed desperate seeking strategic partners in China, and now it appears that the struggling American automaker could be selling a major stake to China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.

Fisker seems to be falling on hard times, and a new report suggests the brand might be on the market with Chinese firm Dongfeng Motor Corp tossing a $350 million offer into the ring.

Fisker is falling on some rough times and it appears that the American electric automaker is getting desperate, seeking strategic partners in China as well as funding.

Production of the Fisker Karma luxury plug-in hybrid has been on hold for longer than six months, but the brand says its supply is still sufficient. 

Exotic plug-in hybrid maker Fisker is suing XLGroup, its insurer, for the cost of 338 Karmas — roughly $33 million.

For the last six months, Fisker hasn’t built a single car, and the American electric automaker doesn’t plan to until the sale of battery supplier A123 goes through.

Remora fish survive by attaching to sharks. Barnacle cling to boats and big rocks. Now, Fisker Automotive is planning similar tactics with a larger automaker.

After a rough year full of being in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, Fisker is looking forward to 2013 and is hoping to turn the corner with a strategic partner.

After a controversial exit from General Motors, Joel Ewanick has found a new home as interim chief commercial officer at Fisker Automotive.

Fisker is reporting that it lost $30 million in inventory after Superstorm Sandy flooded a New Jersey port.

Hurricane Sandy gave the Eastern portion of the United States a what for last week, not to mention the Caribbean and points far beyond. Amid all the destruction and misery the automotive industry was impacted in a number of ways. In particular, the safety of electric cars has been brought up.

Toyota, Chevy and Nissan are already offering help to Hurricane Sandy victims, and now Fisker is offering a helping hand as well. 

A lot full of Fisker Karmas was exposed to the full brunt of Hurricane Sandy’s force, and after the storm cleared, 16 of them had caught fire, and burned out completely.

Earlier this month, A123 Systems, the company that once supplied the battery technology for the Chevrolet Volt and Fisker Karma, announced its bankruptcy. Fisker is now asking the bankruptcy judge to delay the auction of the company.

Fisker will bring a selection of Karma sedans to SEMA in Las Vegas next week with very little customization.

After suffering numerous delays in getting its first car to market, Fisker Automotive has announced it will push back its launch date for the second model in its expanding lineup by as much as two years.

New information about the Fisker Atlantic is trickling out through Twitter, suggesting the car will come with a starting price in the $55,000 range. 

The Fisker Atlantic debuted at this year’s New York Auto Show, but has been mostly unheard of since. For the last few months, the American automaker has been battling issues with its Karma model, while working hard on securing future funding.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently finalized its 2025 fuel economy target under Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) and Fisker was proud to announce that its Karma model already surpasses that target.

In what may be one of the most irrelevant world records, Fisker of the Netherlands organized a meeting of 45 Karmas, and set the record for the most EVs simultaneously charging all in one place.

The largest gathering of Fisker Karma owners to date gathered this past weekend at the companies global headquarters in Anaheim, Calif. as part of an owners appreciation day. 

It seems these days that there are a lot more questions for Fisker than the automaker can provide answers for, but in a recent town hall meeting with its customers, Fisker conducted a Q&A and published the responses.

Tesla and Fisker are essentially polar opposites right now, despite both specializing in developing luxury electric vehicles for the automotive industry. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has never shied away from speaking his mind, and the bold CEO has been highly successful in developing his businesses.

Uh oh. If this doesn’t cause Fisker Karma owners to be up in arms over their expensive purchase, we might be convinced that they’re the most patient, forgiving people on this planet.

Unlike exotic EV maker Tesla’s relative success story, Fisker’s has been one riddled with scandal and financial scrambling, the latest of which sings to the tune of $150 million.

After reports of two Fisker Karma sedans spontaneously combusting, the brand has issued a statement regarding the fires. 

Justin Bieber’s chrome-wrapped Fisker Karma looks more like a spaceship to the general public than what CEO Henrik Fisker would probably prefer: a car identifiable with his brand. 

Fisker automotive is teaming up with Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio to promote global sustainability.

Government loans to Fisker are under fire by a pair or Republican senators who disagree with tax dollars going to a company that is owned, in part, by a foreign country.

Even though Fisker has its own dealerships, it couldn’t hurt the up and coming company to open up one more. Now with Penske’s help, Fisker will have an additional dealership in Arizona.

Fisker will recall a selection of its Karma exotic EVs because of a possible battery coolant leak, just one of many problems plaguing the automaker in its short history.

Overall it has been a very tumultuous year for Fisker. First, its Karma model flatlines during Consumer Reports testing, then it’s blamed for a house fire and now NHTSA has launched a probe as a result of that fire incident.

Following a Texas garage fire that burned a Fisker Karma, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is now conducting an official investigation into the matter. 

Investor information on the mostly-mysterious Fisker Atlantic is shedding a little light on what’s actually going on with the controversial company’s second car. 

In the least surprising announcement of the year, Fisker is denying that the accusations leveled at the Karma supposedly responsible for a garage fire in Sugar Land, Texas are accurate. 

When a Texas home was scorched earlier this week, authorities blamed the Fisker Karma for starting the fire in the garage. At the time it seemed clear that the car did start the fire, but how that happened was less obvious.

A crime of opportunity, or was a Fisker Karma really to blame for the fire in a Texas home?

Electric cars may have arrived, but the search for the perfect alternative fuel is still in progress. There are still a few major issues that keep battery powered vehicles from replacing the internal combustion engine.

A series of very public Li-ion defect related incidents have caused the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) decision to hold a meeting with automakers and battery suppliers with regards to the safety of the new technology.

As we head towards a presidential election, green vehicle subsidies are proving a political hot topic. One of the latest, concerns Fisker Automotive’s $529 U.S. Government loan to help it move forward with vehicle development and production.

The debut of the Fisker Atlantic may have silenced critics for some time, but it appears that the American automaker isn’t doing as well as they want us to believe.

Over the past few years Lexus has been referred to as a Japanese Buick, with the number one reason being the ES front-drive luxury sedan – a car that drew direct comparisons with the not-quite-Cadillac GM premium brand. To erase those comparos the new 2013 ES gets a more stylish exterior with a GS-themed front nose and a profile more like the flagship LS.

Call him what you want: JBiebz, the Biebernator, JB, or Justin. How ever you say it, Canada’s most identifiable teen is easy to spot. Just look for the hordes of drooling prepubescent girls who flock after him like Cookie Monster chasing the Keelber Elf. 

If that’s not enough, or in the rare event he gives them the slip, the ever-ostentatious Justin Bieber will still be blindingly visible thanks to his recent automotive sacrilege.

It seems the Stratford lad didn’t like his recently-received Fisker Karma birthday present in its original color so he turned to West Coast Customs, of MTV fame, to turn the car into a rolling mirror.

The Fisker Atlantic debuted at the New York Auto Show this week shedding light that the once mythical Project Nina was indeed a reality. And while it was believed that the Atlantic would be produced at its Wilmington, Delaware facility, Fisker’s CEO announced that “the whole plan has changed.”

Originally code named Project Nina, Fisker Automotive unveiled its newest model on the eve of the 2012 NY Auto Show. Now called the Atlantic, it may be a concept car, but according to company co-founder Henrik Fisker it’s 90 of what the production car will be.

With plenty of recent bad press, upstart environmental automaker Fisker focused on the positives and began a new chapter in the company’s history with the launch of a new concept car on the eve of the New York Auto Show.

No folks, this isn’t an April Fools Joke. A pair of images of the Fisker Atlantic fully revealed has leaked and here is the previously called “Project Nina” in its fully glory.

The Fisker Project Nina was teased last week in sketch form, and it now has a name ahead of its official unveiling at the 2012 New York Auto Show.

Earlier this month, Consumer Reports reported that a brand-new Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid electric vehicle with less than 200 miles on the odometer abruptly shut down. News of the defect spread quickly, causing Fisker engineers scrambling to identify and solve the problem as soon as possible in an attempt to curb any damage to consumer confidence. Investigators determined the cause of the issue as a flaw in the Fisker’s battery module, which is supplied by A123.

Not long ago, Fisker Automotive took a public relations hit when a Karma battery failed during a Consumer Reports test, but its battery maker A123 Systems has now accepted responsibility and will replace all affected Karma packs at a cost of about $55 million.

With all the news buzzing around the Fisker Karma and its Consumer Reports fiasco, the American electric vehicle manufacturer finally spoke on the issue.

The infamous Fisker Karma that shut down during Consumer Reports‘ testing performed exactly as it was meant to, according to Tom LaSorda, the company’s new CEO.

UPDATE: The Fisker employee in question was revealed to be a Fisker retailer employee and not someone who would have inside knowledge of the company. Fisker addressed the claim, saying the information divulged by that individual is untrue. The former employee now works with EV maker Coda.

The Consumer Reports Fisker Karma test vehicle which broke down on them last week has now been returned to the fleet after spending 48 hours at a Fisker dealerhsip.

During a routine speedometer test the Karma began to flash a warning light and a chime to alert the driver that something was amiss. Once the car came to a stop the Consumer Reports testers could not get the vehicle to shift into any gear other than park and neutral.

The nearest Fisker dealership was alerted of the issue, and sent a flatbed to pick up the car. Consumer Reports says that the dealership found a fault with the battery and the inverter and both of them were replaced.

With a new battery and new inverter cable the car has been returned to the test fleet problem free… for now.

Watch the video below of the Karma breaking down on Consumer Reports.

Well this is just embarrassing. American electric automaker  Fisker has had some pretty bad months recently, starting with a  recall back in December, to reports of the company running out of funds, that has lead to the  delay of Project Nina and then possible reports that the  Karma could brick.

The automaker was probably hoping some good press would come with Consumer Reports putting the Karma to the test, looking to prove to the world that it is indeed a formidable plug-in hybrid especially at its hefty $107,850 price tag. That can just go out the window now, as Consumer Reports has reported that with less than 200 miles on the odometer their Karma has broken down.

The breakdown occurred while Consumer Reports was doing a speedometer calibration run on their test track, something they do for every test car. The calibration simply has the vehicle driving at a constant speed of 65-mph between two measured points. During one of its runs, “the dashboard flashed a message and sounded a ‘bing’ showing a major fault,” according to Consumer Reports.

They promptly took the vehicle off the track and parked it, rummaging through the owner’s manual to determine what may have occurred. Unfortunately after that, the Karma refused to let them shift the vehicle into any gear. The electronic shifter would only allow Park or Neutral.

The vehicle sat for about an hour before they restarted it hoping for better luck. This time around, it allowed them to put it into gear but it only moved a few feet before the error message appeared again and the Karma disabled itself. The dealer promptly sent out a flatbed tow truck to pick up the disabled Karma, which was almost 100 miles away from the dealership.

It’s disheartening to see all this funding going towards the Fisker brand and very little positive news has surfaced from the vehicle. It will be interesting to see what Consumer Reports publishes if they ever get the vehicle drivable for more than a couple of days.

Watch their video below

Following the Tesla ‘bricking’ story from last week, we reached out to Fisker to see if its cars are prone to becoming a useless block on four wheels. 

When teen heartthrob Justin Bieber (aka the Biebs) is spotted around town, its usually behind the wheel of a Bentley or Ferrari. But from now on, he’ll likely be piloting his newest toy; a responsible means of transportation given to him on the occasion of his 18th birthday.

Fisker’s newest project, the BMW 3 series rival named the Nina, has been placed on the backburner once again while the company tries to work out its financial woes.

Fisker Automotive announced today that former Chrysler head Tom LaSorda will replace the company’s namesake, Henrik Fisker, as the new CEO.