Ready to emerge from the mist, Karma Automotive is planning to show it’s ready to compete with a “rapidly paced product plan.” And, as Headlight.News reports, that will include a new, all-electric supercoupe set to debut in Las Vegas Nov. 11.
Karma rose from the ashes of bankruptcy to begin producing more sports cars, including the GS-6, above.
Lost amidst all the EV news from Tesla, startups like Lucid and Rivian, and traditional manufacturers like Ford and Hyundai, it’s easy to forget the name Karma.
If it doesn’t register, or rings only the tiniest of bells, think Karma, as in Fisker Karma, that strikingly sleek, but ultimately doomed plug-in hybrid that was the first attempt at electrified glory from Henrik Fisker. The project went down hard after a series of misfortunes a decade ago, only to quietly emerge from the afterlife when its assets were purchased by China’s Wanxiang Group for $149.2 million.
Since coming back to life, and rebranded Karma Automotive, the California-based carmaker has come up with a handful of products, starting with an updated version of the original plug-in hybrid, renamed Karma Revero. Two years ago, it added a new line of all-electric models, the GS series.
Karma’s SC1 Vision concept.
EV Super coupe set to debut next month
So far, they’ve gained only modest traction. But now, Karma is looking to attract better vibes with the debut of a new lineup of products scheduled to debut in Las Vegas Nov. 11. That includes what insiders tell Headlight.News will be an all-electric “supercoupe.”
We were excited when a teaser package arrived by e-mail, and stared closely at a JPG featuring new Fisker President Marques McCammon and former Acura stylist, now Karma design chief, Michelle Christensen. Alas, the vehicle they partially obscure is not that new EV but just the latest update of the Karma Revero. According to PR chief Jeff Green, the automaker is handling the debut of that electric coupe as if it were U.S. military invasion plans for Iran. (Wait, didn’t those leak out?)
“The challenge of a lifetime”
What design director Christensen says is that this project is “the challenge of a lifetime.”
Karma SC2 concept
Suggesting future Karma products will be “low, long and fast vehicles that compare favorably to any high-end European brand,” she said, adding, “Our collaboration and ingenuity with low volume techniques has produced a seamless, gorgeous representation of our Karma identity. This is an animal that is very pure, a beautiful new flagship/halo that is all at once futuristic and will age gracefully.”
More products to follow
Reading between the lines, it appears the new model visually will fall more in line with the original Revero, albeit purely battery-powered, rather than using a plug-in hybrid drivetrain.
And that would mean targeting a low-volume niche, aiming to put a halo around a virtually invisible brand, rather than focusing on a more mainstream — read: high-volume — product.
That said, we were told that they’ll be more than one model to come at the Las Vegas event, part of a “rapidly paced product plan.” That suggests a more marketable crossover or two. It also appears that while Karma is moving towards becoming “an all-electric brand,” according to Green, the evolutionary process is still underway.
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