Wanxiang Group Co. said it wants to support struggling luxury plug-in hybrid manufacturer Fisker Automotive, the biggest customer of a bankrupt battery supplier that Wanxiang is acquiring.

"It's in our interest if we can help Fisker, in any way we could," Wanxiang America Company President Pin Ni said in a phone interview on 30th January. "They're a customer so it will be in our best interest to support them, as a vendor or possibly in a strategic alliance."

He declined to say whether Wanxiang would invest in Fisker. Roger Ormisher, a Fisker spokesman, declined to comment on discussions with the Chinese company.

Ni made the comments after Wanxiang won approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to buy most of the assets of A123 Systems Inc., a supplier of lithium ion batteries.

The Chinese supplier acquired substantially all of A123's automotive, grid and commercial business assets for 1.6 billion yuan (US$ 257 million).

As part of that deal, Wanxiang will receive the battery technology used in Fisker Automotive's Karma sedan. Fisker was awaiting the sale of the company's Michigan plant so it could resume production of the $103,000 plug-in Karma sedan.

Wanxiang also will get A123's cathode powder plant in China and its share of a joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry, called Shanghai Advanced Traction Battery Systems.

A123, whose automotive business supplies electric-car batteries to about a dozen customers, has facilities in the Michigan cities of Livonia and Romulus.

U.S. approval was the final hurdle that Wanxiang needed to overcome to complete the deal. The federal interagency group led by the Treasury Department reviewed the sale after members of Congress expressed national-security concerns over allowing a foreign competitor to obtain technology developed with government backing.

Wanxiang won bankruptcy court approval of the acquisition on December 11. The company completed its purchase on January 29th, Ni said.

The Waltham, Mass.-based battery maker filed for bankruptcy in October after a previous deal with Wanxiang was scuttled amid congressional Republicans' reluctance to allow its sale to a Chinese company.

In a December auction, Wanxiang beat a joint bid from Johnson Controls and NEC.