The Obama administration will loan Fisker Automotive more than half a billion dollars to bring the super-luxe Karma plug-in hybrid to market and develop an "affordable" plug-in that could be on the road as early as 2012.

The California startup said most of the $528.7 million low-interest loan will help finance project Nina, a four-door, five-passenger mid-size plug-in hybrid that will build on the technology underpinning the gas-electric Karma. Whereas the Karma (pictured above) will start at $87,900 when it goes on sale next year, the Nina is expected to cost $39,900 after the $7,500 federal tax credit for EVs and plug-in hybrids.

"This conditional loan represents a significant step in America’s future,” company CEO Henrik Fisker said in a statement. “With it Fisker Automotive can rapidly develop affordable clean cars that satisfy our passion for driving and help restore the U.S. as an auto industry leader.”

According to the Department of Energy, which will provide the loan, Fisker will receive $169.3 million for engineering integration costs on the Karma. The cash also will help pay for designing the tooling and equipment needed to build the car, which will be assembled in Finland by Valmet, a contract builder that has done work for the likes of Saab and Porsche. Durability testing of the 67-mpg Karma is now underway, and cold-weather testing will begin this winter in Finland.

The remainder of the loan will finance further development of Nina, which will be built in the United States. Fisker has said he could have the car on the road 29 months after receiving the loan, and the company said today we could see the car by 2012. As ambitious as that timeline is, it pales next to the numbers Fisker is talking about. The nascent automaker, which has raised $170 million in venture capital from the likes of Kleiner Perkins Caufiled & Byers, says it expects global sales to "exceed 100,000 units annually."

Henrik Fisker made the same claim when we interviewed him last month, and said it would happen within five years. Moving that many cars a year would make his company larger than Porsche.

“We can definitely carve out that sector," he told us.

The Karma, like the Chevrolet Volt, uses electricity to drive the wheels and a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine (pictured at right) to keep the electric motors turning once the 22 kilowatt-hour lithium-manganese Enerdel battery runs down. Propulsion comes from a pair of electric motors that deliver a total of 403 horsepower — and 959 pound-feet of torque — to the rear wheels. Fisker Automotive claims the car has a range of 50 miles.

Fisker isn't saying much about the Nina, but told us the car will fall between the BMW 3-Series and 5-Series in terms of size and it will feature “very radical” styling. It also will used a stamped steel frame and body panels (the Karma is aluminum) to save money.

Fisker is the fourth automaker to receive a loan under the $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program. The loans are meant to help automakers offset the cost of retooling factories to build eco-friendlier cars that are at least 25 percent more fuel-efficient than 2005 models. Tesla Motors received $465 million in June to help develop the Model S, a mid-sized sedan the company claims will cost $49,000 after the $7,500 tax credit. Ford and Nissan also have received loans.

Fisker and the Department of Energy said the loan will create or preserve as many as 5,000 jobs.

"This investment will create thousands of new American jobs and is another critical step in making sure we are positioned to compete for the clean energy jobs of the future,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a statement announcing the Fisker loan. “Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles could revolutionize personal transportation and cut our dependence on foreign oil, not to mention give us cleaner air and less carbon pollution.”

The agency said more loans will be announced in the months to come.

POST UPDATED 4:55 p.m. Eastern.

Photo of the Fisker Karma at the Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races: Jim Merithew / Wired.com

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