China buys Fisker Automotive

Finally, it looks like Fisker Automotive's luck has changed. China's Wanxiang Group has agreed to pay $149.2m (£89.1m) to buy the remaining assets of the luxury hybrid builder.

China's biggest car parts group has said it'll stump up nearly six times the amount required to bail out Fisker when it filed for bankruptcy in November 2013.

According to Marc Beilinson, Fisker's chief restructuring officer, the "highly spirited" 19-round auction increased the value of the firm by more than £53m compared to the opening bid.

Wanxiang, which also owns the successor to the firm that supplied the Karma's batteries, battled with Hybrid Tech Holdings for $126.2m (£75m) in cash and $8m (£4.7m) in assumed liabilities. The only remaining condition is that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross approves the sale on February 18 in Wilmington, Delaware.

Fisker's string of bad luck began when development over-ran on the Karma. Then its battery supplier went bust after several units failed, sometimes causing fires, and finally, it lost 338 finished cars in a dock hit by superstorm Sandy - and the insurer wouldn't pay.

The company, which was co-founded by Aston Martin V8 Vantage and BMW Z8 designer, Henrik Fisker, and business partner Bernhard Koehler, cost investors - which included Leonardo DiCaprio - more than £400,000 for every one of the 2200 Karmas sold.