Big Government has learned of a shocking new dimension to the emerging Fisker Karma scandal: not only is the U.S. taxpayer-backed car manufactured overseas, but it is far less fuel-efficient than its main American competitor, the Chevrolet Volt.
ABC News reports this evening that the U.S. Department of Energy gave $529 million in loan guarantees to Fisker Automotive to assist in the production of the sporty Karma, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.
Instead of manufacturing the Karma in the United States, however, Fisker is building the electric vehicle in Finland–creating 500 jobs overseas with American taxpayers’ money:
“There was no contract manufacturer in the U.S. that could actually produce our vehicle,” the car company’s founder and namesake told ABC News. “They don’t exist here.”
Industry insiders have told Big Government that they are alarmed by another, largely unreported fact about the Fisker Karma: the car only gets 20 miles per gallon (mpg) of fuel when its gasoline engine is running.
Fisker revealed this week that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has rated the Karma at 52 MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent)–the car’s effective fuel efficiency range when its electric motor is combined with its range-extending gasoline engine.
However, Fisker communications director Roger Ormisher revealed that the gasoline engine itself only performs at 20 mpg.
Even General Motors’s Chevrolet Volt performs better, according to Green Car Reports:
The comparable figures for the 2012 Chevrolet Volt–which has a less powerful single 111-kilowatt (149-hp) drive motor and an 80-hp, 1.4-liter range extender–are 94 MPGe in electric mode, and 37 mpg on gasoline, with an electric range of 35 miles.
Insiders tell Big Government that the Fisker Karma scandal is a “green car Solyndra.”
Other sources have revealed additional details to Big Government about the scandal.
Developing…
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