CHINA’S largest auto parts company made a surprise bid for Fisker Automotive just days before the bankrupt maker of the Karma plug-in hybrid sports car was to be sold to a Hong Kong tycoon, according to court documents.

    Fisker creditors asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware, to scrap Fisker’s agreed sale to a company affiliated with Richard Li and instead hold an open auction at which auto parts supplier Wanxiang America Corp. plans to bid.

    Wanxiang has agreed to make an initial bid of US$24.725 million and said it will assume some liabilities of Fisker, according to documents filed at Tuesday’s deadline to object to Fisker’s plans.

    A hearing has been scheduled for Friday in Wilmington to consider whether Fisker should proceed with the sale to the Li affiliate or adopt the creditors’ proposal.

    The U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge overseeing the case, Kevin Gross, earlier last month raised concerns about Fisker’s rush through bankruptcy, which was filed only a month ago.

    Wanxiang outbid Johnson Controls last year in a bankruptcy auction for most of the assets of A123 Systems Inc., which made batteries for Fisker’s cars.

    “They are extremely capable and knowledgeable of the industry and know how to get things done,” said William Baldiga, a Brown Rudnick attorney who represents Fisker’s official creditors committee.

    Both Fisker and A123 obtained green technology loans from the U.S. Department of Energy. Critics of the government’s loan program tried to get regulators to block the sale of A123 to Wanxiang, arguing that sensitive technology was being transferred to an economic rival.

    Baldiga said he does not anticipate similar problems with the sale of Fisker’s assets, which he said are primarily related to automotive design.

    Wanxiang plans to restart Fisker production as soon as April and eventually move the manufacturing from Finland to Michigan, according to Wanxiang’s presentation to creditors that was filed with the court.

    The Chinese company estimated it would sell more than 1,000 Karma hybrids in the first 18 months in the United States and 500 in Europe. Fisker sold the Karma for more than US$100,000 each. Wanxiang said in its presentation it could lower production costs, but did not suggest a price tag.

    Fisker filed for bankruptcy in November, about a year after suspending production.

    Fisker raised more than US$1.4 billion in public and private funds after its founding in 2007, but lavish spending, quality and engineering blunders and other mistakes drained the company’s coffers and delayed the launch of its Karma plug-in hybrid, several people close to the company said earlier last year.

    An entity affiliated with Li planned to buy the company after he paid US$25 million for Fisker’s loan from the U.S. Government. The Li affiliate planned to buy Fisker’s assets using not cash but a “credit bid” of US$168 million owed on that loan, leaving other creditors such as suppliers with next to nothing.

    The committee proposed an auction be held at the end of January and asked the bankruptcy court to bar Li’s affiliate from credit bidding more than the US$25 million it paid for the government’s loan.

    In addition to seeking an auction of Fisker’s assets, the creditors’ committee asked Gross, the Bankruptcy Court judge, for permission to sue former Fisker directors Li and David Manion, as well as Fisker co-founder Bernhard Koehler. (SD-Agencies)