Official: Fisker Karma will be manufactured in Finland

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Back in July we reported that Fisker Karma will very likely be manufactured in Finland by Valmet Automotive after two companies signed a letter of intent.

Today Fisker Automotive announced that they have signed the final assembly contract with Valmet Automotive to manufacture the Fisker Karma in Finland. Valmet Automotive will be the engineering and manufacturing supplier for Fisker Automotive.

Today Valmet Automotive manufactures Porsche Boxster and Porsche Cayman for Porsche AG. That deal is set to end in 2012 as Porsche found another partner.

The Fisker Karma is a new four-door plug-in hybrid sports sedan and its production is planned to start in the fourth quarter of 2009, first vehicles will be delivered soon after and the annual production is projected to reach 15,000 vehicles.

For the production of the Fisker Karma, a new body welding line will be built at Valmet Automotive. The painting and assembly process can be easily adapted to the production of electric and hybrid cars.

“The agreement is very significant for us and our employment situation in the years to come,” says Ilpo Korhonen, President of Valmet Automotive. “With the planned full production volume, the cooperation with Fisker Automotive will employ some 500 blue collar workers at Valmet Automotive.”

“Fisker Automotive and Valmet Automotive make a great, professional team. The schedule is demanding, but I’m confident that with good cooperation the production will start on schedule. A hybrid drive train, battery technology and a new body design with light weight materials is a great challenge to our engineering and production teams. Our supplier quality management team is also involved in the project,” said Ilpo Korhonen, President of Valmet Automotive.

Fisker Karma will cost around $80,000. With 50 miles of electric range and more than 350 miles of total range, the Fisker Karma with its proprietary Q-DRIVE powertrain developed by Quantum Technologies, will have the potential for a fuel economy of over 100 miles per gallon (MPG) on extended drives. Fisker Karma has a top speed of 125mph and 0-60 comes in less than 6 seconds.

Source: Fisker Automotive