Fisker Automotive is moving full-steam ahead to get its $80,000 plug-in hybrid Karma on the road by the end of 2009 and today announced it will be using $65 million in Series C funding to do so. The company says the round closed on Sept. 4 and was led by a new investor, an affiliate of Qatar Investment Authority, who joined return investor Kleiner Perkins.
The money will be used to finish development of the startup’s first vehicle, the four-door Fisker Karma. Fisker says it’s still on schedule to begin production in the fourth quarter of 2009 and aims to ramp up production to 15,000 vehicles a year. So far, three prototypes have been built and the company’s engineers are now tweaking the battery management software and running crash-test simulations.
The funding pushed the startup’s total funding close to $100 million. Fisker’s got the money, it’s got the manufacturer, now it just needs to finish designing the car. Oh, and to make sure that pesky lawsuit goes away.

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