Hybrids to be built at idle GM plant

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - Luxury automaker Fisker Automotive is buying a shuttered General Motors assembly plant in Delaware to produce plug-in hybrid electric cars, officials said yesterday.

The California-based company has signed a letter of intent with Motors Liquidation Co., formerly known as General Motors Corp., to purchase the Wilmington plant for $18 million after a four-month evaluation period.

Fisker, which recently won approval for $528.7 million in government loans to develop plug-ins, expects to spend another $175 million to refurbish the facility before production of next-generation hybrids begins in 2012.

Fisker expects Project NINA will create or support 2,000 factory jobs and more than 3,000 vendor and supplier jobs by 2014, with full production capacity of between 75,000 and 100,000 vehicles per year. More than half the cars will be exported, the largest percentage of any domestic manufacturer.

"This is a major step toward establishing America as a leader of advanced vehicle technology," said CEO Henrik Fisker, who described the production of electric hybrids as part of "the most dramatic change in the car industry ever."