Karma to expand dealerships to 13 US cities, 19 countries by year-end

Karma SC1 Vision Concept  -  2019 Shanghai auto showKarma, the company, is starting its effort in earnest to revive sales of its Revero—the car that started life as the ill-fated Fisker Karma. According to the federal government, Karma sold 231 of the cars in 2018, well down from the 2,667 that Fisker sold in the car's first year on the market. That's partly the result of a paucity of...

2020 Karma Revero GT breaks cover–with smaller mustache

2020 Karma Revero GTThe 2020 Karma Revero GT will trim back its signature handlebar mustache for a bushier walrus variety. And when it goes on sale late this summer, buyers will be able to order it at a new $100 million custom design center adjacent to the Karma factory in Moreno Valley, California. "Our [Karma Innovation and Customization Center] will offer every...

2018 Karma Reveros recalled for side curtain airbag issue

2019 Karma Revero Aliso EditionKarma issued a stop sale on new 2018 Karma Reveros following a recall for defective air bags. The side curtain airbags have a defective rollover sensor, the company said, and may not deploy in a rollover accident. Side curtain airbags are a key safety feature in a rollover, because when they deploy, they can keep occupants heads from hitting the...

Karma presents its electric-car vision to China and vies for partners

Karma SC1 Vision Concept  -  2019 Shanghai auto showKarma Automotive doesn't have just one vision for its future. It has three. The Southern California automaker unveiled a trio of new vehicles at the Shanghai auto show this week, ranging from a near-production look of the next version of the Karma Revero to a fanciful concept called the SC1. The third, a design experiment done in partnership with...

Karma gets farther from FIsker with 2020 Revero GT, electric car concept

2020 Karma Revero GTChinese-owned, California-based Karma Automotive made clear several years ago that its aspirations go well beyond merely resurrecting production of the car originally known as the Fisker Karma. That car, now called the Karma Revero, is produced in very low volumes in Moreno Valley, California, is the automaker’s only product at present. And...

Karma rebirth takes shape with coupe teaser, new design center

Teaser for Karma Pininfarina concept debuting at 2019 Shanghai auto showKarma Automotive promised big things with a new model lineup, including a revamped Revero, a new SUV, and a new electric sports coupe. On Wednesday, the company gave a glimpse of its new electric Vision coupe concept that will be unveiled at the 2019 Shanghai auto show next week and announced that it opened a new production facility in California...

Karma Revero gets more power, BMW 3-cylinder

Redesigned Karma Revero teaserThe Karma Revero is getting a long-needed update later this year, and the company has just revealed a few details. You'll recall that the Revero is the continuation of the original Fisker Karma, which went on sale in 2011. The company and its manufacturing facilities for the Karma were bought out by a Chinese company. Now the company is named...

Karma plans to relaunch with three new models at Shanghai auto show

Redesigned Karma Revero teaserKarma, the company that started as the new maker of the Fisker plug-in hybrid (and once Tesla-fighter) of the same name—now called Revero—plans a new birth, four years after buying the company out of bankruptcy. At next month's Shanghai auto show, the company plans a product revival led by three cars: an updated Revero, a new model...

Pininfarina’s Italian design may be good Karma for plug-in carmaker

2017 Karma ReveroFisker, the luxury plug-in hybrid car company that went bankrupt in 2013, was founded by a car designer. Henrik Fisker, the brand's namesake was a designer at BMW before forming his own company. Now that venture, renamed Karma after is primary product, following the company's revival at the hands of Chinese investors, has hired a new design firm...

2017 Karma Revero: first drive of reborn luxury plug-in hybrid sedan

2017 Karma Revero, Palisades, NJ, Aug 2017The 2017 Karma Revero remains as much of a head-turner today as the low, sleek four-door sedan was when it debuted a decade ago under another name. It also happens to be a range-extended electric luxury sedan, though we tend to think that the Karma would sell just as well if it ran on coal dust and baby-seal blood. It's a big, low, handsome shape...

Battery maker A123 quietly became a half-billion-dollar company

A123 Systems manufacturing facility, Livonia, MichiganTen years ago, lithium-ion cell maker A123 Systems was a hot startup and a much-publicized company. This author, in fact, profiled the company for IEEE Spectrum in the technology magazine's September 2007 issue. The six years that followed proved enormously painful for the Massachusetts company, however. DON'T MISS: A123 Systems To Recall...

First TV ad for Karma Revero drops as sales to start next month

Karma Revero 'Delivery' as spotEverything old is new again, including the 2017 Karma Revero, a reborn 2012 Fisker Karma. Now its maker has released the first-ever television advertisement for the car, a spot that debuted during the 2017 U.S. Open Polo Championship, sponsored by Karma Automotive. Simply titled "Delivery," the advertisement is full of graceful, flashing scenes of...

Karma gets approval to build electric cars in China

2017 Karma ReveroThe original production run of the Fisker Karma luxury sedan was contracted to Valmet Automotive in Finland. But as the Karma Revero, the car will be built at a new facility in California. Karma, which was created when Chinese auto-parts giant Wanxiang purchased the remains of bankrupt Fisker Automotive, plans to handle production itself. DON'T...

Fisker is coming back, he says, with 400-mile electric car

Henrik FiskerHenrik Fisker has designed some remarkable cars, among them Aston Martins, the BMW Z8, and of course the striking Fisker Karma range-extended electric luxury sedan. That vehicle, launched in 2012 by his namesake company, saw production of less than 3,000 units before the company collapsed in bankruptcy. The same vehicle will relaunch next year as...