Fisker Automotive is looking to hire 120 employees between now and February 2012 to work its Wilmington, Delaware, plant on its first Project Nina vehicle, a mid-size premium sedan that should roll off the assembly line at the end of 2012. The initial group of hires will be engineers, electro-mechanical technicians, and production workers.

The Delaware plant, purchased from General Motors in the summer of 2010 for $18 million, will build up to four plug-in hybrid vehicles once it is fully up and running. These vehicles include the aforementioned premium sedan, a coupe, an SUV, and a convertible version of the Fisker Karma called the Karma Sunset.

This news follows the recent expansions at Fisker’s Global Headquarters in Anaheim, California. The company has quadrupled from 50 in January 2010 to 200 in January 2011. By the end of June, it will have increased to 300. Despite the increase in workforce, the Karma sedan was recently delayed once again. Fisker currently plans to achieve full production of the Karma by the second half of 2011 with deliveries to all current deposit holders before 2012.

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The first European production version of the Fisker Karma made its premiere driving debut before official race qualifying began for the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix on Saturday. Prince Albert II of Monaco was joined by Founder Henrik Fisker to pilot the vehicle around the circuit. This event marked the first dynamic public showing of the Karma in Europe. The first non-dynamic showing was at the 2010 Paris Motor Show.

Production of the Fisker has fallen behind schedule but it still hopes to achieve full production by the second half of 2011 with deliveries to all current deposit holders before 2012.

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As a follow up to our “Girls of the 2010 SEMA Show” spread, and to prove our interest in these shows goes beyond attractions of the flesh, we are proud to bring to you the Cars of the 2010 SEMA Show. View all the cars of the 2010 SEMA Show here. Photos come courtesy of Richard Robello at Auto-focus.us. Follow the link for the full Auto-Focus Facebook gallery.

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Henrik Fisker is well known in the automotive world—putting the pen to the pad for the BMW Z8 and Aston Martin DB9—and with the help of Valmet Automotive—the same company currently outsourced by Porsche to build the Cayman and Boxster, although that will change with the next-generation cars— it hopes to get 100 units up and running in late 2010. These units will be used for demos and testing until full production ramps up in February 2011 in Fisker’s new ex-GM Delaware plant.

As part of this plan, Fisker will unveil the first factory-built Karma at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. Fisker’s ultimate goal is to produce more than 100,000 cars per year through an expansive retail network to market and service its vehicles. In Paris, Fisker hopes to share its expansion and partnership plans with the automotive public.

The four-door plug-in Karma hybrid produces 403 hp and can reach 62 mph from a standstill in 5.9 seconds. Top speed is 124 mph.

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Fisker Automotive is working with Valmet Automotive to get 100 Karma units up and running for crash testing and customer trials before full production begins in February of 2011. When production ramps up, Fisker hopes to produce 15,000 Karmas a year.

The Karma is a luxury electric plug-in with an asking price of $87,900. Besides manufacturing the Karma, Fisker’s future plans include producing the Nina, a $39,900 midsize electric sedan, by 2012. To accomplish this Fisker obtained a $528.7-million government loan in September 2009 and purchased a GM plant in Wilmington, Delaware, for $18 million soon afterwards. So far no known photos of the Nina exist.

Valmet Automotive is a service provider for automotive manufacturers. It currently builds Cayman and Boxster models for Porsche as well as the world’s most expensive golf cart for Garia.

[via Reuters]

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duPont REGISTRY's 2010 Exotic Car Buyers Guide is your ultimate source on the newest exotic and luxury cars and accessories. This issue offers modified exotics, a wheel guide, and more than 110 reviews of the top exotic and luxury cars from all the premium manufacturers.

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At $52,000, the Garia Edition Soleil De Minuit is the world’s most expensive golf cart. Built in the same factory that produces the Porsche Boxster and Cayman and even the upcoming Fisker, the ultra-exclusive golf cart will make its world debut at the Top Marques in Monaco luxury show on April 15—yes, the duPont REGISTRY will have a booth there.

The Garia Edition cart is powered by the same 2.9-liter F-6 found in the Porsche Boxster a four-hp three-phase electric motor; top speed is a hold-on-to-your-clubs 15 mph. The frame of the cart is built by Aston Martin and the gearbox is from the same people that supply Ducati. If the name dropping isn’t enough to offset the asking price, the cart also features a carbon roof, one-of custom paint, two-colored hand-stitched luxury seats, Alcantara roof lining, numerous hand-made details, and an optional refrigerator.

[via Garia.dk]

The U.S. government is intent on weaning us off gas-guzzling autos. It has already loaned Tesla Motors $465 million to get its Model S into showrooms, it took thousands of gas-slurping cars off our roadways and replaced them with more fuel efficient vehicles with its $3-billion Cash-for-Clunkers program, and, yesterday, announced that it would be loaning Fisker Automotive $528 million to create a new low-cost hybrid and finish up work on its $90,000 Karma.

Besides its Karma sedan, the low-cost hybrid Fisker wants to bring to the masses is a $39,900 electric-hybrid called the Nina—named after Christopher Columbus’ ship. It hopes to have the car in showrooms by 2012 and plans to sell 100,000 units annually. Besides helping us win the war on foreign oil, the loan money is expected to create or save at least 5,000 jobs in the automotive supply industry.

[via BusinessWeek and MotorTrend]

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If you’re going to make a luxury convertible in today’s marketplace, you have to do it the right way. One key aspect to this equation is using a retractable hard top instead of the standard fabric top. Fisker did just that with its Karma Sunset two-door four-seat convertible that premiered yesterday at the North American International Auto Show. Despite being nearly 9-inches shorter and using some different body panels, the convertible is basically the same car as the sedan. Performance is estimated at zero-to-sixty mph in 5.8 seconds and a top speed of 125 mph.

[via Los Angeles Times]

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Fisker will not just be unveiling its Karma sedan to the public at the Detroit Auto Show but also a new concept rumored to be called the Karma S Sunset. The Sunset will be based off the Karma sedan and use its same Q-drive powertrain, but will add the ability to lower its top and instantly become the ultimate boulevard cruiser.

[via Auto123.com]

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