Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Like The Eveready Bunny, The Fisker Story Just Keeps Going And Going And Going

Yahoo!Finance is reporting:
For a few months in 2012, Bruce Simon, the chief executive of gourmet food retailer Omaha Steaks International Inc., drove a $100,000 plug-in hybrid electric car known as the Fisker Karma. No longer.
Mr. Simon says his car broke down four times over the span of a few months. Each time, Fisker Automotive Inc. picked it up and sent it by trailer from his home in Omaha, Neb., to a dealer in Minneapolis.
The Karma was "so vulnerable to software errors, and the parts used were of such poor quality that eventually I insisted they take the car back and return my purchase price, which they did," he says. "It's a real shame, the car itself was beautiful."
The near collapse of the Anaheim, Calif., company—it missed a loan payment on Monday, earlier dismissed most of its staff and has hired bankruptcy advisors—comes as affluent buyers like Mr. Simon have turned away from the once promising startup and falling gasoline prices have chipped away at demand for electric cars.
Barring a last-minute rescue, Fisker is poised to become another DeLorean Motor Co. or Tucker Corp., a symbol of the difficulties of creating entirely new car companies. Unlike those others, it also represents one of the most prominent failures of the government's use of public funds to wean American industry from fossil fuels—and of how that government interest pushed Fisker to reach too far.
I am posting the story for two reasons: a) the Fisker is an important story; many, many story lines; and, b) I try to order Omaha Steaks at least once a month (for my younger daughter/son-in-law or for my granddaughters).

Someday I will do a cost analysis of Omaha Steaks vs local supermarket offerings, but needles to say, Omaha Steaks is great at marketing; has exceptionally good food; and, always delivers on time. 

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