$529m loan for Fisker hybrid cars

Tesla Motors' main rival, Fisker Automotive, won a $529 million conditional loan from the US Department of Energy on Tuesday to develop two lines of luxury, plug-in hybrid cars.

Orange County-based Fisker is only the fourth car maker to receive funding from a two-year-old federal program to develop more fuel-efficient cars. Tesla, based in San Carlos, won $465 million in June from the same program.

Fisker plan to use $169.3 million of the loan to complete its first vehicle - the $87,900 sports car, the Karma, that should begin full production next year. The rest of the conditional loan will fund Fisker's "Project NINA," an effort to design a plug-in hybrid that will cost just $47,400.

Despite most of its components coming from within the US, the Karma will be manufactured overseas. However the NINA sedan, which could hit the market in late 2012, is expected to be built in the United States.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu said of the loan, "This investment will create thousands of new American jobs and is another critical step in making sure we are positioned to compete for the clean energy jobs of the future.

Fisker seems to have an advantage over its rival Tesla, because its cars are hybrids, whereas Tesla's are powered solely on electricity. The Karma can also travel about 50 miles on battery power before switching to its gasoline engine. The car recharges when plugged in at the drivers home.

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