O.C. hybrid auto firm to hire 100 more

June 28th, 2011, 1:00 am
by Mary Ann Milbourn

Hybrid-electric car maker Fisker Automotive in Anaheim continues its hiring binge with company headcount in Orange County expected to hit as many as 400 by the end of the year, a spokesman said Monday. That’s up from 300 now and just 50 in January 2010.

Including related contract workers, there are about 600 people now working for Fisker as it prepares delivery of its Karma. The first deliveries of the $100,000 hybrid-electric sports car are expected in July and August.

Spokesman Roger Ormisher said most of the people being hired in Orange County are on the engineering and technical side.

Meanwhile, Fisker is ramping up its Wilmington, Del. plant, which will produce what the car maker has dubbed Project Nina, a less-expensive mid-sized electric sedan.

The company announced last week that it plans to hire 120 workers in Delaware between now and February. Fisker bought the plant from GM in 2009 and has been retooling it to prepare for production of the Nina, expected at the end of 2012. The Karma is being built in Finland.

With all this hiring, Fisker is beginning to fill up its new corporate headquarters in Anaheim where it relocated this spring after outgrowing the company’s original site in Irvine.

Fisker has raised $1 billion to finance its efforts, including a $529 million Energy Department loan. It also received $21.5 million in grants and loans from the state of Delaware.
===========================
Picture of car @

http://economy.ocregister.com/2011/06/2 ... ore/59773/