China’s Geely was expected to finalize the sale of Fisker by mid-March, but the Chinese firm will no longer bid for a majority stake in the troubled American electric automaker.
Geely has turned away due to the obligations Fisker established with the U.S. Department of Energy when the American automaker was granted a $529-million loan. Sources close to the deal said that it included an obligation to restore capacity and jobs at the firm’s Delaware plant. According to the same sources, the obligations were too complicated to handle and the plan’s footprint was too big. A big part of the problem was that it would take a long time to restore employees at the plant.
SEE ALSO: Chinese Volvo Owner Likely to Buy Fisker
Geely was mainly interested in Fisker for access to the Delaware plant, which was previously owned by General Motors. It had hoped to restore the plant in order to boost demand for its Volvo vehicles and was interested in producing Volvo cars there.
The leading bidder now for Fisker is likely Dongfeng Motor Group Co., which put in a final bid offer late last week.
[Source: Automotive News]
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