motor

HeilSvenska · 11-12-2008, 10:53 PM

Fisker's On a Roll and Michigan Gets Karma
Times are tough in the Motor City these days, but Michigan got some good news this week with the announcement that Fisker Automotive will put as many as 200 engineers and designers to work on the ultra-luxury Karma plug-in hybrid at a new R&D center in Pontiac -- just as arch-rival Tesla Motors is moving out of Detroit.

The company says it will open a 34,000-square-foot engineering and development center to push the $80,000 Karma into production by the end of next year. The upstart firm, led by car designer extraordinaire Henrik Fisker, had long been interested in setting up shop in the Detroit area, and with the Big Three laying off workers, it should have no trouble finding a building to occupy and a staff to fill it.

"The available talent, supplier base and infrastructure in Michigan will help us reach our production goal," company COO Bernhard Koehler said in a statement. "While Fisker Automotive will continue to be headquartered in Irvine, California, the new facility will allow us the opportunity to collaborate with our Michigan supplier base and have everyone under one roof."

That's all well and good, and the announcement suggests things are moving right along at a company that's had a run of good news lately. But you've gotta wonder if it isn't also an opportunity for Fisker to thumb his nose at his arch-rival Tesla Motors, which recently announced layoffs, is closing its Detroit design center and just lost its lawsuit against Fisker Automotive.

There's no love lost between the two automakers, both of which have drop-dead gorgeous cars with stratospheric price tags. While Fisker believes plug-in hybrids are the best alternative to petroleum, Tesla's betting full-electric vehicles are the future.

Of the two, Tesla's been way out in front, having actually put about 50 Roadsters in driveways after overcoming delays caused by transmission problems. All we've seen from Fisker is a sexy prototype, a few fake spy shots and a video of the car tooling around a runway. Fisker tells us he's on track to have "about 100" Karmas in driveways by the end of 2009. Most experts we've talked to say that's an exceedingly optimistic timeline -- and one that was laid out long before the auto industry imploded.

But Tesla stumbled along with the economy. It is cutting about a quarter of its staff and delaying production of "Model S," an electric sedan it hoped to roll out in 2010. The belt-tightening came after Tesla couldn't close a $100-million round of funding -- although it has since lined up $40 million in convertible debt financing and is proceeding with plans for a factory in San Jose, California.

Fisker, on the other hand, is on a roll lately. The company is backed by venture capital powerhouse Kleiner, Perkins Caufield & Byers and closed a $65-million round of funding in September. It has less overhead than Tesla because it has farmed out a lot of the engineering to Quantum Technologies while lining up the Finnish firm that assembles the Porsche Cayman and Boxster to build the Karma. The company got another boost last week when an arbitrator essentially tossed out Tesla's lawsuit accusing Henrik Fisker of stealing company secrets. Tesla claimed Fisker signed a contract to design the Model S so he could crib from Tesla's proprietary information while developing the Karma. The arbitrator found "the evidence is overwhelming that Fisker did nothing wrong" and Tesla's allegations were "baseless."

Fisker was quick to issue a press release letting everyone know the case had gone his way. Now he's issued another to say he's moving to Michigan -- just as Tesla's moving out. Fisker has reason to crow, but until he's actually started putting cars in driveways, it's all just talk.

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/11/detroit-now-has.html

RC45 · 11-13-2008, 01:28 PM

Think of these as really expensive Segways... ie pointless flash in the pans

10000rpmlover · 11-16-2008, 05:13 AM

Originally Posted by RC45

Think of these as really expensive Segways... ie pointless flash in the pans

they may be so, but I reckon that electric fisker car is one of the most beautiful things I have seen in the past 10 years, their problem is that they want to sell these things for the prices you pay for mega hot italian rides, I am sorry for whoever paid over 100k for a tesla, (it's a lotus with a blender motor)

if they were realistic and wanted to sell lots of them, price them a bit lower, I'd say 60k USD max and their sales will rocket

F250 · 11-16-2008, 10:43 PM

With regular gasoline at $1.97 and premium at $2.17 (including ALL TAXES) in Cody, Wyoming, it's a great time to build an electric car!

Of course, those aren't the cheapest prices in country. I hear Texas is at least 10 cents less.

RC45 · 11-16-2008, 11:09 PM

If an electric car did everything my 1998 Ford Contour did and only cost $15,000 I woud be intrested in one since it would eliminate a month;yost for me... but since they never will cost so little and will never need zero gas they are bust

HeilSvenska · 12-02-2008, 06:31 PM

Very very slightly different from the concept.

RC45 · 12-02-2008, 08:41 PM

Did Fisker steal the technology from Tesla then go ahead and call it Karma?

silentm · 12-03-2008, 02:23 PM

so those 2 fake exhausts left and right covered by a piece of plastic are there to make it look like a car right?

that's just sad O.o

10000rpmlover · 12-03-2008, 02:33 PM

Originally Posted by silentm

so those 2 fake exhausts left and right covered by a piece of plastic are there to make it look like a car right?

that's just sad O.o

no it is not, this thing is drop dead gorgeous and I wouldn't feel bad for driving it, now about the price?

btw those two fake ports at the back may either be filled by an as of yet undisclosed thing, (you never know, we had a mock up rolling around last year with something similar that was actualy a fully functional laser sensor front and back) or they may even turn into lights, cameras or some other tech, knowing Fisker, I'd expect those things to be something royally unexpected, you could be looking at the charge ports for all you know

btw, if this does not look like a car to you... that is real sad

HeilSvenska · 12-04-2008, 12:12 AM

Originally Posted by 10000rpmlover

btw those two fake ports at the back may either be filled by an as of yet undisclosed thing, (you never know, we had a mock up rolling around last year with something similar that was actualy a fully functional laser sensor front and back) or they may even turn into lights, cameras or some other tech, knowing Fisker, I'd expect those things to be something royally unexpected, you could be looking at the charge ports for all you know

If anything, it could be a pair of speakers for the fake engine notes. They were talking about such things for the Karma.

$87,900

It is gorgeous. Is it hypocritical of me to hate the Tesla but love the Karma? Is it because it's made by the person who designed the V8 Vantage or the Artega GT? Probably.

The Karma will get not one, but two electric motors as part of its "Q-drive" powertain system, and they augment a 265 HP GM Ecotec turbocharged four cylinder for a grand total of 408 HP and 959 lb-ft of torque. In full sport mode that car will scoot from zero to 60 MPH in only 5.8 seconds, top speed is pegged at 125 MPH. (boo) Switch it down to miser mode and you can go 50 miles in all electric mode, drawing power from the lithium-ion battery pack. Production is planned for 15,000 cars a year when the line gets rolling, but don't get too excited, it's already sold out until mid-2010. (!!!)

One thing though. That might disgust many people here, is that it's 4650lbs. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

10000rpmlover · 12-04-2008, 06:19 PM

please photoshop one of these with a rooster graphic on the side, I wanna see how much of a cock I would look like in it, and just how much I can piss off BMW drivers