Fisker Karma ~ Move Over

[hill]

Not to be outdone by Tesla's plans for a less expensive version of their sport car EV, Fisker wants to weigh in. Besides trying to get the $90,000 Karma off the ground, Fisker now plans to produce a $39K EV ... for the 'ordenary person'. Hmmm, maybe some day, we'll actually have a real EV new-car choice. "maybe some day" being the operative words.

Fisker to launch $39,000 electric car in 2012 | Small Business | Reuters

[Zythryn]

Good news, more competition is a good thing.
And since the big guys aren't going there, it is leaving room for lots of little guys to get a good foothold

[Rokeby]

From the cited article:

"The Karma will have a 50-mile range on its battery and a total
range of 300 when its gasoline engine kicks in, for an average fuel
economy of 100 miles per gallon for those who commute less than 50
miles a day, according to Fisker's website.

"Lane declined to say what the new lower cost car will be called, but
said it would be a four-seater and could be produced in a retooled car
factory. "Fisker will probably manufacture on the East Coast" of the
Unites States, he said..." Emphasis added.

OMG! Fiskar apparently knows or suspects that the USA has an East
Coast. I wonder where the planned production plant will be? North
Carolina? South Carolina? Georgia? Do they know that Alabama is not
on the East Coast, but on the Gulf Coast?

This is really exciting. Will they have showroms on the East Coast too,
or wil there just be "outlet stores" at malls?

Note: The above was typed with tongue firmly acheek.

I'm going to have to pay attention to Fisker, even though the projected
price is ~$10K too high for me at this point in time.

[ljbad4life]

I don't think that Fisker will be making a series plug in hybrid for 30k. GM owns a good chunk of fisker and will throw a fit if fisker can produce a cheaper car than the volt. Or Fisker will end up with a licensed rebadge of the volt. I personally hope Fisker makes a good car. To me the Karma pretty much is a better designed volt (what the volt wanted to be) and is even using a gm sourced engine.

I know this is slightly off topic, but what car is the gm 2.0 liter four currently in? I hope it isn't in the cobalt (I have a couple of friends that aren't happy with the cobalt's engine problems).

[Zythryn]

From the cited article:

"The Karma will have a 50-mile range on its battery and a total
range of 300 when its gasoline engine kicks in, for an average fuel
economy of 100 miles per gallon for those who commute less than 50
miles a day, according to Fisker's website."

If this is the case, I can only take it to mean that the car will be taking energy from both the battery and gasoline in the first 50 miles. Which indicates that it will be nothing but a souped up Prius and not a series Hybrid like the Volt.

[hampdenwireless]

Originally Posted by ljbad4life

I don't think that Fisker will be making a series plug in hybrid for 30k. GM owns a good chunk of fisker and will throw a fit if fisker can produce a cheaper car than the volt.

I don't think so. GM does not own Fisker Automotive. They only have a relationship to buy parts such as the gas engine they are using.

Fisker Automotive - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fisker_Automotive

Fisker is a publicy owned company so that can change. Of course YOU can buy a piece of them yourselves unlike Tesla.

[ljbad4life]

Originally Posted by hampdenwireless

I don't think so. GM does not own Fisker Automotive. They only have a relationship to buy parts such as the gas engine they are using.

Fisker Automotive - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fisker is a publicy owned company so that can change. Of course YOU can buy a piece of them yourselves unlike Tesla.

well maybe quantum and fisker are mixed up since

here

here

during a video interview it was specific expressed that gm owns part of fisker (since it is a publicly traded company gm could have bought shares). It's stated at 1:52 exactly. I know for a fact that Fisker wholly owns quantum so gm could not own a part of quantum.

[asj2009]

I saw some pics of this...VERY VERY nice car, and not too shabby pricing....the only problem is you gotta wonder about the quality of such cars...sure, it'll be cool to have a car that's kinda unique, but in the end, these are all just cars, and if they don't perform their job of getting you from point a to b reliably then they might as well be props.

[patsparks]

Originally Posted by asj2009

I saw some pics of this...VERY VERY nice car, and not too shabby pricing....the only problem is you gotta wonder about the quality of such cars...sure, it'll be cool to have a car that's kinda unique, but in the end, these are all just cars, and if they don't perform their job of getting you from point a to b reliably then they might as well be props.

If it isn't reliable and the company goes bust then you have a collectors item.

[Rokeby]

"At 10 am tomorrow morning, Vice President Joe Biden is expected to
announce that Fisker Automotive will buy the closed General Motors
factory in Wilmington, Delaware, his home state.

"According to reports, company founder Henrik Fisker will join
Delaware Governor Jack Markell and other dignitaries in announcing
that Fisker will use the plant to build its midsize "Project Nina"
plug-in hybrid sedan scheduled for launch in 2012."
'
In Delaware of all places! Way cool, I can drive up -- about an hours
drive -- for a plant tour.

The date-line is Oct. 26, so "tomorrow" would be Tue, Oct. 27.

Full article here:

Fisker Buying Delaware Plant To Build Midsize 2012 Plug-In Hybrid - Green Car Reports

And a pix: