First Fisker Karma to be Delivered to Leo Di Caprio

Fisker is finally starting deliveries of its Karma luxury plug-in hybrid sedan later this month �and the lucky person to get the first car will be none other than Hollywood star Leonardo di Caprio (....the spicy female model featured in the firm's print advert is not included with the car).

The company says it has already received 3,000 pre-orders with the waiting list reaching until early 2012. Other famous customers for the $100,000 hybrid sports sedan are former US Vice President Al Gore and former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State Colin Powell.

The Karma is the work of former Aston Martin designer Henrik Fisker, who founded his own company.

It is built around a spaceframe chassis made of aluminium and it features a battery pack placed in the middle and two electric motors at the back, as well as a gasoline 260HP 2.0-liter turbo four up front which acts as a generator for the battery when it needs charging.

Production of the Karma has started at Valmet�s plant in Finland, at an initial rate of just five cars per week. This rate will rise to 300 cars per week in November, and Henrik Fisker estimates that his company�s customers �are split 50:50 between early-adopting car enthusiasts and total non-car enthusiasts who just like that we are bringing something totally new to the market�.

Fisker plans to add to Karma�s range a convertible and a shooting brake model. The latter may be unveiled as early as this fall at the Frankfurt Motor Show. If everything goes according to plan, Fisker will also launch a smaller, more affordable hybrid BMW 3-series rival, currently code-named �Project Nina�.

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Fisker Automotive Hiring Now In Delaware

Fisker Automotive was b?ught General Motors' cl?sed down Boxwood R?ad facility in Wilmington, Delaware. N?w, nearly two years later, Fisker is gearing up t? get the re-commissi?ned factory ready f?r production ?f Project Nina. This means that Fisker will need t? hire s?me employees and it has announced that it's ready t? d? just that.

Starting this weekend, Fisker Aut?motive will p?st advertisements for j?b openings at its Delaware facility. The aut?maker's initial plan calls f?r the hiring of 120 empl?yees, including engineers, electro-mechanical technicians and pr?ducti?n workers, by the end ?f 2011.

Unfortunately, Fisker ?nly intends to use ?ne third of the factory's total fl??r space, meaning that the capacity to manufacture ar?und 200,000 units annually will remain unt?uched.

L??king to land a job with Fisker? Well, the aut?maker says that it will hire at least 40 electro-mechanical technicians in July and August and an additi?nal 80 producti?n line workers between Oct?ber and February ?f 2012. After that, Fisker is looking t? continually add j?bs as Project Nina nears pr?ducti?n in late 2012. Yup.. that's the plan.

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