Is Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner John Doerr planning on helping Louisiana become the new Detroit?
The VC and champion of green technologies, along with fellow Kleiner Perkins partner Ray Lane, reportedly has helped a group of local Louisiana business people to purchase a former General Motors Corp. facility in Ouachita Parish, La., with the intention of turning it into an electric car factory, according to local newspaper The News Star.
Local businessmen Jim Davison, who led the group of buyers of the former General Motors lighting division called Guide, reportedly will announce a partnership called Project Liberty on Wednesday.
Kleiner Perkins is heavily invested in electric car startups Fisker Automotive Group Inc., with over $65 million sunk into two separate rounds, according to The Deal Pipeline (subscription required). Fisker has raised over $150 million in venture capital. The News Star article makes no reference to Fisker, but the connection wasn't lost on auto industry blog Autoblog. Autoblog discounts Fisker as the likely partner, since it already has a production agreement in place.
Instead, Autoblog suggests European electric car maker Think Nordic ASA as a more likely partner because it has expressed interest in bringing its electric city car to the U.S. A city car is usually a small two-seat car akin to Daimler AG's Smart cars. Last year, Think raised $4 million from General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) and announced a partnership with battery startup A123Systems Inc., according to The Deal Pipeline (subscription required).
However, it is possible Davison's Project Liberty is the unnamed Kleiner Perkins electric car project that green blogs such as Green Tech Media and Business Insider's Green Sheet have been chatting about since May. Auto enthusiasts and greenies will only have to wait another day and a half to find out. - Matthew Wurtzel
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