As luxury automaker Fisker prepares to battle in the courts over its Sandy-damaged Karmas, more details have emerged as to why its cars were sitting at Port Newark in the first place--they were there for recall work.
338 Fisker Karmas were submerged during the deluge of Superstorm Sandy, damaging some and causing others to catch fire, destroying them completely.
Fisker has taken its insurer, XL Insurance America, to court over its refusal to pay up for the $33 million of damaged Karmas.
Buried within the court documents, Jalopnik has discovered (via Autoblog Green) that the cars were at Port Newark while they awaited new cooling fans related to a voluntary recall back in August. The cooling fan unit had been responsible for a very public fire incident outside a grocery store in Woodside, California.
Others were there pending software updates and battery replacements.
As for why such a large number of cars were there in the first place--some standing for over 80 days--Roger Ormisher from Fisker explains:
"We... ship from Valmet in larger shipments at a time as that is more economically viable."
Meanwhile, he says that Fisker is confident that it will receive adequate compensation from XL for its losses. The lawsuit will claim compensation for the 338 destroyed cars, as well as damages for breach of contract from XL.
[Hat tip: Brian Henderson]
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