Fisker Ups The Price On Its Unavailable Car

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

They say that “everything sells at a price,” but right now no amount of money will buy you a Fisker Karma. And, according to a leaked internal email obtained by Fiskerbuzz.com, the price of the Valmet-built luxury plug-in hybrid is rising.

In 2008, pricing was originally estimated to be around $80,000. This estimate was then more clearly defined in 2009 as an MSRP of $87,900 and has now increased another $8,000 to the final pricing of $95,900 for the EcoStandard model.

Is this price bump in any way related to Fisker’s recently-announced production delay, or is it just bad Karma? Fiskerbuzz pleads for calm:

The Karma’s solar roof, the largest continuous and most highly curved solar roof in a passenger car, was planned to be a $5,000 option. The roof is now standard.

With an MSRP of $95,900 the Karma is within 10% of the originally announced MSRP of $87,900 announced in 2009 – an incremental change over the course of two years.

More pricing info and apologia/perspective (depending on how you look at it) after the jump…

Fisker’s new pricing structure now looks something like this (before all government incentives):

EcoStandard Trim: $95,900


EcoSport Trim: $103,900


EcoChic Trim: $108,900


Destination fee is $950.

Tri-Tone Leather is a $2,200 fee.


Diamond Dust Paint is a $3,000 fee.


Special Paint is a $3,000 fee.

And though there are a lot decimal places in those prices, fiskerbuzz insists that the increase to the Karma’s already-high price doesn’t change the fact that the sleek PHEV is unique… and good value?

At $88,400 after federal tax incentives, the Karma is within $500 of its originally announced MSRP of $87,900. Local incentives offer additional savings.

The Karma starts $1,400 less than a Porsche Panamera S (both 400hp) after $7500 federal tax incentives are applied. Local incentives offer additional savings. Additionally, the Karma is significantly more efficient and will be much more exclusive.

The Karma starts $19,500 less than a similarly-equipped Tesla Roadster — $20,500 less when you include destination charges.

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Dculberson Dculberson on Dec 28, 2010

    There are actually no decimal places in those numbers. ($100,000 has no decimal places. $9.99 has two.)

  • Doug Doug on Dec 28, 2010

    While I'm skeptical of Fisker, this article is a bit much. "according to a leaked internal email" It was an email to customers/reservation holders. No point trying to play up the info as secret. "And though there are a lot decimal places in those prices," I see no decimal places in those prices, which leads me to believe the author doesn't know what a decimal place is.

  • 28-Cars-Later Why RHO? Were Gamma and Epsilon already taken?
  • 28-Cars-Later "The VF 8 has struggled to break ground in the increasingly crowded EV market, as spotty reviews have highlighted deficiencies with its tech, ride quality, and driver assistance features. That said, the price isn’t terrible by current EV standards, starting at $47,200 with leases at $429 monthly." In a not so surprising turn of events, VinFast US has already gone bankrupt.
  • 28-Cars-Later "Farley expressed his belief that Ford would figure things out in the next few years."Ford death watch starts now.
  • JMII My wife's next car will be an EV. As long as it costs under $42k that is totally within our budget. The average cost of a new ICE car is... (checks interwebs) = $47k. So EVs are already in the "affordable" range for today's new car buyers.We already have two other ICE vehicles one of which has a 6.2l V8 with a manual. This way we can have our cake and eat it too. If your a one vehicle household I can see why an EV, no matter the cost, may not work in that situation. But if you have two vehicles one can easily be an EV.My brother has an EV (Tesla Model Y) along with two ICE Porsche's (one is a dedicated track car) and his high school age daughters share an EV (Bolt). I fully assume his daughters will never drive an ICE vehicle. Just like they have never watched anything but HiDef TV, never used a land-line, nor been without an iPad. To them the concept of an ICE power vehicle is complete ridiculous - you mean you have to STOP driving to put some gas in and then PAY for it!!! Why? the car should already charged and the cost is covered by just paying the monthly electric bill.So the way I see it the EV problem will solve itself, once all the boomers die off. Myself as part of Gen X / MTV Generation will have drive a mix of EV and ICE.
  • 28-Cars-Later [Model year is 2010] "and mileage is 144,000"Why not ask $25,000? Oh too cheap, how about $50,000?Wait... the circus is missing one clown, please report to wardrobe. 2010 AUDI A3 AWD 4D HATCHBACK PREMIUM PLUS
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