Less than two years after founding Fisker Automotive in Irvine, Calif., CEO Henrik Fisker unveiled his first production-ready Karma plug-in hybrid sedan today at the 2009 North American Auto Show in Detroit.
The Karma blends advanced eco-friendly technology with luxury in ways even Lexus — by far the leader in high-end hybrids — hasn’t been able to do, serving as a wake-up call for blue-blood, ultra-luxury brands Bentley, Ferrari, Lamborghini and others, which lag way behind in the development of alternative-fuel technologies.
When the Fisker Karma goes on sale in November for $87,900, it will beat General Motors’ hyped-up Chevrolet Volt to market, becoming the first mass-produced plug-in electric vehicle sold in the United States.
The Karma embodies Fisker Automotive’s “eco-chic” manifesto. Call it a Maserati with a conscience, if you will. Two electric motors send 408 horsepower and 959 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels. That’s enough power to rival some of the world’s fastest, priciest sports cars for output. The Karma’s 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder Ecotec engine, sourced from General Motors, puts out 260 horses. But that power never reaches the wheels because the gasoline engine only acts as an onboard generator to charge the batteries.
The sedan will accelerate from zero to 60 mph in 5.8 seconds and has a top speed of 125 mph in the car’s peak-output “Sport” mode, which can be engaged during electric-only driving or in HEV mode. The car’s default “Stealth” mode conserves energy for better mileage. In this mode, the car doesn’t accelerate as fast and has a lower top speed of only 95 mph.
Fisker Automotive could’ve used a smaller, less powerful gasoline engine to allow even better mileage in hybrid mode, but doing so would’ve compromised performance, CEO Fisker said. A smaller engine wouldn’t provide the level of charge needed to keep the batteries replenished enough for spirited driving.
The Karma will go about 300 miles on fully charged batteries and a full gas tank. The car can recharge on a regular 110-volt household outlet or a higher-powered 220-volt socket.
Fisker Automotive plans to produce 15,000 Karmas a year and has pre-orders for more than 1,003, mostly from U.S. customers.
Though details were scarce, Fisker also unveiled a pre-production convertible sport coupe called the Karma “S” or Sunset. It uses the same aluminum structure and plug-in hybrid system as the standard Karma. So it too can be plugged in to a regular household socket to recharge, which means that motorists who drive 50 miles or less each day might never have to refill their gas tanks, so long as they charge up the batteries nightly.
Fisker Automotive did not release performance specs or pricing for the Karma S but did say that it will go on sale some time in 2011.
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