PhillyInc: Pa. hopes for a S. Korean plant are dashed

Can you miss something you never really had?

The Associated Press reported over the weekend that South Korean electric-vehicle maker CT&T Co. Ltd. won't be building final-assembly operations in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Had the manufacturer of the e-Zone two-seater followed through on its intentions and set up in Philadelphia, it could have meant up to 200 jobs. (I wrote about CT&T's plans in September 2009 after its representatives had met with Mayor Nutter.)

But Pennsylvania is far from the only state to see red when promised green jobs did not materialize. Hawaii and South Carolina were also going to be sites for CT&T car-assembly operations, adding 400 and 370 jobs each.

The AP reported that CT&T has been facing "liquidity issues" and that its American subsidiary was hoping to separate from its Seoul-based parent and raise $250 million to move ahead with its plans for the North American market.

Never say never. After all, Fisker Automotive Inc., of Irvine, Calif., raised $115 million in May after attracting $190 million in March to support production of its Karma plug-in hybrid vehicle. The venture capital-backed Fisker hopes to build its hybrid vehicles in a former General Motors plant in northern Delaware.

But here's the difference: Fisker has made far more progress on its business plan in the last two years than CT&T, which seems to be starting over.

Felix Zandman, who founded Malvern's Vishay Intertechnology Inc. in 1962, died Saturday evening.

A statement released by the company Monday did not list the cause of death for Mr. Zandman. He was 83.

Born in Poland in 1928 and a survivor of the Holocaust, Mr. Zandman earned degrees in mechanical engineering and physics in Europe before immigrating to the United States and working for a division of the Budd Co. in Philadelphia.

He started Vishay in 1962 and would take it from start-up to nearly $2 billion in annual revenues as a global manufacturer of semiconductors and electronic components when he stepped down as CEO at the start of 2005. Most recently, Mr. Zandman had been Vishay's executive chairman, chief technical officer, and chief business development officer.

The company said its board of directors on Sunday had elected his son, Marc, 49, as executive chairman and chief business development officer. Gerald Paul, who had succeeded Mr. Zandman as CEO and is 62, will add the duties of chief technical officer.

Shares of Vishay, which has a market value of $2.45 billion, closed at $14.85 Monday, down 16 cents, or 1.1 percent.