Fisker Karma

[vfx]

http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2010-04/price-karma

The only problem is that nobody outside the company has driven one yet. Will Henrik Fisker tempt buyers into the electric age, or is he already a relic of the past?

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Fisker delays production :

Fisker Automotive board member and Kleiner Perkins GP Ray Lane told Reuters that Fisker Automotive will build 70-100 test cars starting this year and will enter "mass" production in February 2011.

http://ceo.newsbasis.com/toyota-will...-fisker-announ

[DrTaras]

VFX - Thank you for noting the blog: http://ceo.newsbasis.com/toyota-will-invest-at-ipo-price-fisker-announ.

For a year I have been apprehensive about my Fisker down-payment experience thus far. I’m customer # 80 since January, 2008 and as I will illustrate below, I have great hopes for Fisker. I have "travelled" via upstart Tesla from Jan, 2007 deposit to delivery of # 254 (RIP - http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php?t=3409&highlight=tree+hug&page=2) in March, 2009 and my experiences have been 180 degrees between Fisker & Tesla. Tesla was, for the most part, transparent all the way up to the Jan, 2009 cost increase fiasco (http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php?t=2199). Whether it was positive news of passing another Department of Transportation hurdle, or negative such as the transmission delays, Tesla would let its customers know at the same time it let the media know. Rarely did I hear from the media, something I did not already know from Tesla. That inspired confidence. We were right next to them all the way experiencing the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat!

My down payment with Fisker, granted, is 10x less than my Tesla down payment. Maybe I should lower my expectations?

By now in the Tesla experience I had been invited to ride in the car & tour the HQ, then at a later date drive the car on a rented airport strip & drive the car on the road. I was nobody special but Tesla made me feel special, and Tesla extended these offers during events to multiple customers. I was invited to the Tesla LA store grand opening. That is the only analogous situation with Fisker as I was invited to the Fisker's LA dealership in Santa Monica last year. At that event it was the 1st time I was able to touch (but not ride in) a Karma which I still regard as an artistic thing of beauty. I realize that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Life is about compromise; I get it! So for the chance to own a Plug-In Hybrid gorgeous luxury production vehicle I've waited. I think that this concept is what will help to wean us off our addiction to foreign oil and green the planet with the plug-in concept calming range-anxiety, but I don't want this thread to degrade into a discussion of that; just use it as the ‘why’ I have not walked away yet. On the other side of the balance sheet was that I found the back seat ingress & egress to be difficult & the leg room once there to be sparse. I have heard today that Fisker's NAV system will NOT have real-time traffic application; not a deal-breaker, but something I'd expect from a car that will easily approach $100K! I have also heard that the gas tank for the Karma will be quite small so that although you have the range-extension of the Electric-1st engine and then the gasoline-next (over-simplification I know), the actual highway range may not be much over 300 miles; again, not a deal breaker. Both of these latter two claims have NOT been substantiated so if someone can point me in the direction of their validation, that would be appreciated.

Don't get me wrong, all my interactions with Fisker have been pleasant and those who work for the company seem like nice people who care, but I think the lack of transparency is a company character flaw. Fisker announced 5/26/10 that there will be 100 test cars built in 2010 & the rest will start rolling off the line in February, 2011. In May, 2010 should I even believe a February, 2011 estimate? What does that mean, "Test Car?" I have # 80 so does that mean they are going to give me a test car? I know that Tesla had dozens of test cars that they were being put through their paces for years before the 1st owner actually took delivery of a final production car. On 5/28/10, after the genie was already out of the bottle about the production delays (yet again), owners received an e-mail from Fisker. When I saw it in my in-box, I was excited that Fisker was going to personally explain to its customers why there were more delays and what was the definition of the "test cars?" I understand (albeit remotely) about production delays and needs to retool or fine-tune so I was expecting and explanation that I could sink my teeth into; that's what Tesla would have done. But as I read the e-mail, the lack of transparency was evident. Fisker was just discussing why the Karma was going to be a ground breaking car. No mention of dates or delays or test cars! An internal narrative began to race through my mind whereas I would tell them, “Hey, that’s not the way Tesla would have handled it.” To which they would have said, “Well, we’re not Tesla!” The same way when I was in 3rd grade and told the substitute teacher, “Hey, that’s not the way Ms. Middleman would do it,” and the substitute teacher would say, “well, I’m not Ms. Middleman!”

So I’m at a quandary & looking for guidance. The Fisker Karma represents beauty in a luxury plug-in-hybrid. A marriage of two things that are right for me (after all, cars are personal and have to speak to the heart as well as the mind). As much as I love my Tesla Roadster & do not have ANY range anxiety with it, I’m not ready for our sedan to be a pure electric (though I wish Tesla Model ‘S’ – Whitestar all the best). I think that going to a “traditional” non-plug-in hybrid is almost going backwards, but maybe I might need to go that route until the market matures? I’m not interested in doing aftermarket modification to make a hybrid plug-in, unless I can get some assurances of reliability (company will be around to come to my house give me a loaner and fix the car for free should there be any issues – or something like that). The Fisker Karma is everything I wanted in theory, yet the devil is in the details and those details are not readily transparent. Am I spoiled or do I return to my original question? Maybe I should lower my expectations?

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Fisker adds $189 million in latest funding round

This latest round of founding is about much more than just money though. The additional funds ($115 million of which came in back in January), mean Fisker can trigger its $528.7 million loan from the Department of Energy. The loan will be used to re-open a General Motors plant in Delaware which the company will eventually utilize to develop a line of lower-cost, family oriented models under the Project NINA program.

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/05/30...funding-round/

[TEG]

Fiskerbuzz forums

Cars 2.0: The Future of the Auto Industry

[doug]

Wired interview with Henrik Fisker:

Driven: How Henrik Fisker Aims to Floor the Auto Industry - Wired

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“THE FISKER ROAD SHOW”

Wednesday, June 30, 2010
6-9 PM

Fisker Santa Monica
2450 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90404

LAcarGuy and Fisker Santa Monica invite you to the final stop in the North American Fisker Road Show. Join us for this unique opportunity to see the world's first luxury plug-in hybrid and meet with the Fisker designers and engineers. If you attended our Fisker Santa Monica launch event last November, you will get a second chance to touch and feel this incredible vehicle.

Hell with "touch" I wanna drive the frikkin thing!

[ChargeIt!]

*UNCONFIRMED* rumor: the car-on-tour STILL does not have a running engine in it Again, that's unconfirmed from a source that's non-technical, but close to the Sacramento/Elk Grove event. So, yes, you can touch it, you can sit in it, but can't expect a ride (and forget drive) ! ( I wonder if she meant "no engine" and forgot to mention, yes it has a motor in it so we CAN do some short (electric-only) demo rides ?? )

If you are in the Sacramento Area (looks like the schedule slipped by a day): June 29th 5pm-8pm, at Infiniti of Elk Grove. (check link for RSVP info.)

[DrTaras]

you will get a second chance to touch and feel this incredible vehicle

Further validation about my post above that maybe I should lower my expectations about the Karma! I drove in the Tesla Model 'S' over a year ago and didn't even have a deposit! And the road to building the Tesla Roadster & Tesla's constantly involving their public as comparison... don't get me started!

"Touch & feel?" Fugedaboudit!

[graham]

Well the Fisker certainly had some sort of engine in it for its day at Laguna Seca. But I can believe it may not have been the final drive train. Any more than the sample Model S's final drive train was used for that debut.