In case you haven't been paying attention, Fisker is in serious trouble. The automaker responsible for the Karma luxury hybrid has been plagued by electrical fires, a crop of its cars destroyed in Hurricane Sandy, its battery supplier shutting down and its namesake founder leaving the company. As a result, Fisker Automotive has been looking for a new buyer to which to sell itself, and like its battery supplier A123, that's principally come down to Chinese investors.

Both Dongfeng (which is owned by the Chinese government) and Geely (which owns Volvo) were in the running, but Geely has reportedly withdrawn its bid, apparently due to the half-billion-dollar loan which Fisker took from the US Department of Energy. Geely is reportedly reluctant to assume the debt and the strings attached. Dongfeng is still in, but Fisker says it's "talking to multiple partners". Whether those are all Chinese companies as well remains to be seen, but American lawmakers are expressing concerns about China getting a hold of technology developed with American public funds.