Top executives at Fisker Automotive Inc, maker of the sleek Karma plug-in hybrid, are scouring Asia - in particular, China - for funding and strategic partners that are viewed as crucial to the automaker's success, four people familiar with the matter said.

A major driver of Fisker's China focus is the country's support of local Chinese automakers' efforts to acquire "green car" technology from abroad. This is part of an effort by the country's central government to ramp up a market for electric cars and plug-in hybrids in China before the end of this decade.

So far, Fisker has held talks with China Grand Automotive Services Co, a large dealership group that already has an agreement to distribute Fisker cars in China.

It also has held discussions with Wanxiang Group, a Hangzhou-based major producer of automotive components that last month won an auction for bankrupt US lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems, Fisker's primary battery supplier.

The US plug-in hybrid car maker also has established contacts with a few Chinese State-owned automakers and is likely to hold talks with them in the coming weeks, according to the sources.