Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Nov 2, 2015 (I)

choi

(1) Susan Berfield, Batteries With a Political Charge.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/ar ... nese-led-turnaround

Quote:

New owner "Wanxiang is having better luck. This year, A123 Chief Executive Officer Jason Forcier says, revenue will reach about $300 million and the company will break even for the first time. * * * The company isn’t a serious rival to Panasonic, Automotive Energy Supply, or LG Chem, but it’s a leader in the emerging market for lower-voltage hardware. 'It’s ironic,' says [analyst] Thilo Hanemann * * * 'A123 is one of the prime examples of a successful Chinese investment in America.'

"Wanxiang has been operating in the US since 1994. It’s bought more than 20 companies, many distressed, and manages them as a private equity firm might. Chairman Lu Guanqiu 鲁冠球 lives in Hangzhou, China; his son-in-law, Pin Ni 倪频, lives in Chicago, where he runs the U.S. operations, which include real estate holdings and now Fisker, too.

"Amid A123’s death and rebirth, the company missed out on the big US contracts for electric vehicles. LG supplies batteries for General Motors’ and Ford’s electric cars, and Tesla signed with Panasonic. * * * For now, A123’s biggest orders come from China, where it supplies high-voltage batteries to carmakers Chery and Shanghai Automotive and bus maker Tianjin Santroll 天津市松正电动汽车技术股份有限公司. Some of those deals predate Wanxiang’s purchase of the company [ie, the American predecessor of the current A123 had won pver some of those Chniese customers]

Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: Obama favorite A123 does better under Chinese management
(b) "The 200,000-square-foot plant [of A123 Systems] in Livonia, Mich.

Livonia, Michigan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livonia,_Michigan
(in Wayne County [whose seat is Detroit]; section 1 History)
(c) Automotive Energy Supply Corp (AESC)
www.eco-aesc-lb.com/en/aboutus/company/
(established in 2007; based in Kanagawa Prefecture 神奈川県 [Tokyo's southern neighbor]; child of Nissan (51%) and NEC (49%))
(d) "Unfortunately for A123, the Karma was bad."

It is a pun. Karma is Fisker's dream car. Then there is good karma, bad karma.