By Edward Niedermeyer
December 2, 2008
Fisker seems to be getting a handle on the whole car-company routine, joining the now-proud tradition of leaking images to the web to build hype leading up to a launch. Of course that’s a little bit harder when your production model is nearly unchanged from the concept, but these considerations don’t bother anyone else in the industry. Anyway, the $88k Karma is said to get 50 miles of all-electric range before its GM Ecotec engine kicks in to generate more juice. Top speed is listed as 125mph, and 0-60 should take 5.8 seconds. Production at Valmet’s facilities in Finland will eventually reach 15k units per year, and the first deliveries will take place in fall 2009. We will bring you complete photos when the Karma debuts in Detroit this January.
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POWERED
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:49 am
Wow, that thing is simply stunning.
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Looks stunning, sounds cool. It’s basically a fast, sexy, Volt, isn’t it? Of course, the Volt’s price is less than half of this (one hopes).
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:03 pm
There is no way in hell this thing can have adequate durability testing and be on sale in the fall of ‘09.
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Adequate durability testing? What would be the point of that?
This is what Mazda was aiming for when they redesigned the Mazda6. If only they’d had more inches and more manufacturing cost to play with.
I do wonder what they’re going to do to get luxury-sedan levels of NVH out of the Ecotec.
Finally, can someone explain why this is tagged a 2009?
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:27 pm
$88k doesn’t seem ridiculous for this either, tbh. Or maybe I’ve been looking at too many damn Brabus baubles lately…
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:02 pm
@ Michael Karesh:
Fair enough. True delta can keep Fisker appraised of the issues he needs to work on.
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:12 pm
The drivetrain is being borrowed from a military vehicle made by Fisker’s partner Quantum, so a lot of durability testing, at least on the serial hybrid drive may have already been done.
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:30 pm
So why isn’t this guy paid like a billion dollars to work for BMW, Porsche, Mercedes, Jaguar or Lexus. With very few exceptions all the latest sedans from those companies are like Roseanne Barr standing next to Keira Knightley when compared to this thing.
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:43 pm
If what Ronnie says is right, then Fisker has taken a pretty smart approach in getting this thing going (namely, avoiding re-engineering everything).
I wonder if he’s worried about relying on GM for the engine, especially since it looks like some of GM’s suppliers and satellite industries are starting to go down already.
December 2nd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
@sitting@home
So why isn’t this guy paid like a billion dollars to work for BMW
He used to work for BMW, in Bangle’s team. Remember the Z8?
December 2nd, 2008 at 3:34 pm
looks pretty
December 2nd, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Dayum. Who needs the Debt 3? Give these guys the money.
December 2nd, 2008 at 7:17 pm
It’s ambitious. We shall wait and see if it is rubbish.
What irks me is the claim it gets 100 mpg. It does - for the first 100 miles. 50 miles on battery power alone, then the engine kicks in, and you consume some fuel for a rough average of 100 mpg. But it’s not really 100 mpg because the engine wasn’t running for half that time. And after that point who knows what it gets for mileage.
All being said, his idea is a goodun - use a locomotive style hybrid, where the petrol engine ONLY serves as a charger for the electric motor. That’s right, the gas engine has nothing to do with driving the wheels. Why didn’t anyone else think that this might be a good idea, seeing how it’s been used on submarines and diesel trains for over 60 years?
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Actually, I take issue with this implementation (as outlined above by JEC). He’s going to use an engine designed to power wheels via a transmission, meaning its torque and power curves are going to be targeted specifically at that. This affects the valve timing, cylinder count, and so on so that it’s very efficient at that job.
Powering a generator, however, is a less constrained task. You can design an engine to do this one particular task that results in a much more efficient system (e.g. by pushing the torque in the low-end, trying to cram as much of it in the efficiency band, etc.).
I realize that this is a logistical nightmare, but there’s got to be a decent 3-cylinder diesel or gas engine that fits this criteria so that you can leverage existing QA and durability…
December 3rd, 2008 at 11:47 am
Keep in mind this is a 80K luxury car, so tossing a wheezy 3 cylinder diesel into it probably isn’t high on the priority list, even if it would do the same job as the Ecotec (which isn’t really luxury car material either, is it? At least it won’t sound like a broken blender.)
I know if I were in charge I’d have tossed in some loud V8 lump, ala Corvette blender. I guess that’s why I’m not an engineer, or an environmentalist.