Old GM Plant to Make Fisker Hybrids

Fisker Automotive, which aims to make a plug-in hybrid sedan for around $40,000, has signed a letter of intent to purchase an idle General Motors plant in Wilmington, Del.

Fisker has agreed to pay $18 million for the plant to Motors Liquidation Co. (the liquidator of GM assets), reports American Machinist.

Fisker is the brainchild of former bigwigs at Aston Martin, BMW and Ford.

CEO Henrik Fisker was once design director for Aston Martin and also had been CEO of BMW’s Designworks USA. COO Bernhard Koehler led efforts at Ford’s Global Advanced Design Studio, and he also created concept cars for Mini, BMW and Aston Martin.

In addition to buying the plant, Fisker is putting $175 million into refurbishing and retooling the plant.

Fisker is benefiting from a $528 million loan from the stimulus package.

After beginning production in 2012, Fisker plans to export about half of its production. By 2014, the company aims to produce 75,000 vehicles a year, reports the Triple Pundit.

In other news about former auto plants, the University of Delaware is in talks with Chrysler to buy its old Newark, Del., plant, with the goal of turning it into a technology park, according to the Triple Pundit article.