Is Fisker For Real?
From Motor Trend: FISKER PROMISES SUB-$40K ALL-ELECTRIC SUV FOR 2021
I’m not saying this won’t happen, but I am saying that, if it does, it will be the first promise that Fisker has kept in the 11 years I’ve been following them.
When my buddies from EV World and I were ogling the Fisker Karma (range-extended hybrid) at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show, we noticed the gorgeous prototype we were allowed to sit in…and the gargantuan price tag, causing us to speculate as to how well it would do in the marketplace when it was to come into production “next year.”
When we were back at the show five years later, we noticed the velvet rings keeping us several yards away from the gorgeous prototype, the gargantuan price tag, and the fact that the car was essentially vaporware; there was no indication that it would ever hit the streets.
With characteristic shamelessness, Fisker bills the new all-electric SUV for 2021 as a “Tesla killer.” Note: It has to exist before it can act as a mild irritant to Tesla, let alone kill it.
Craig,
WTF?
Vaporware ?
Craig, I’m curious, do you are any of your colleagues complete anything substantial in the way of research beyond a little superficial gossip ?
The original Fisker Karma was designed by a company headed by Henrik Fisker. Fisker is been a hugely respected auto-motive designer for over 30 years.
The orignal Fisker Karma was designed in the US, but manufacturing was contracted to Valmet Automotive of Finland.
The Karma was an unashamedly luxury, premium plug-in range-extended electric luxury sports sedan.
The Karma featured many advanced technical and design features and sold more than 2500 units in the US with another 400 sold world wide.
(hardly vapourware !)
Despite the vehicle receiving numerous awards and a lot of praise from celebrity and loyal owners, the company was always dogged by bad luck and the hatred of Tesla fans.
Unlike Tesla, Fisker Automotive was shabbily treated by the DOE, although it must be admitted Henrick Fisker, although an excellent designer lacked the industrial, administrative, financial and political skill of Elon Musk.
In 2013-14, following a series of mishaps including, losing 330 cars to Hurricane Sandy, a series of component failures, defending an expensive lawsuit filed by Tesla, (Fisker won), and finally the DOE withdrawing crucial funding, Fisker Automotive slid into receivership. ,
Fisker Automotive was eventually sold to China’s largest multinational automotive components manufacturer, the Wanxiang Group Corporation of Hangzhou.
The current Fisker prototype is a new offering by Henrik Fisker, who despite all the venom and hatred leveled at him so unfairly six years ago, has been exonerated by US authorities and returned to automotive design.
Henrik Fisker never claimed his vehicle designs were “Tesla Killers !
This remark is just an invention by an journalist and repeated by those who delight in malicious gossip and naysaying.
In fact, Herick rejects people who label his designs as “Tesla killers” or a “Tesla rivals” because he believes there’s room for multiple players in the electric vehicle space.
A Henirik Fisker states, “I don’t think anyone is out to kill anybody, Tesla doesn’t really have a competitor. It doesn’t look like one is going to emerge. I think it’s time to move to a next level of this technology and I believe that we have come up with some real breakthroughs.”
In recent years, Henrik Fisker has received many offers from large automotive OEM’s to joint venture, including Tata Automotive of India, owners of Jaguar/ Land Rover.
His dreams of his own Automotive brand may not be as realistic as his skill in automotive design, but nor does this visionary pioneer deserve to be the butt of ill-informed malicious gossip.
For a guy so fond of Google, I’m surprised you didn’t do just a little research before rehashing old and erroneous gossip !
You’re right, a few thousand cars were produced, each one with a failing grade from Consumer Reports: https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2012/09/fisker-karma-earns-a-failing-grade-from-consumer-reports/index.htm. 100% vaporware (rather than 95%) would have been a far better outcome.
Craig,
WTF ? You compound one egregious untruth with another !
Consumer Reports tested one car, one early model, which developed software program faults.
Consumer Reports compared the car to the Porsche Panamera, a very different car, but at that time the most similar. Despite the Porsche costing only $75,000 to the Karma’s $110,000, the Porsche Pamamera only sold 1046 more units in 2012.
Early critics like Consumer Reports didn’t understand the Fisker Karma and took issue with items such as the the lack of trunk space, radio glitches and the car’s popularity with teenage pop stars.
The car certainly squired a celebrity following, including George Clooney and was chosen as the car owned by the Charlie Sheen character in the long running TV series ‘Two and a Half Men’.
The car quickly developed a loyal fan base, and still has an active owners club with 90 % of the cars sti8ll running.
For an ‘orphan’ motor vehicle, today a used Fisker Karma with high mileage will still set you back more than $40,000 for a 2012 model, and $85-95,000 for a low mileage example.
In contrast, a used 2012 Porsche Panamera fetches about $20,000 for a high milage car and only $30,000 for low mileage example.
Craig, just repeating the prejudiced gossip of your equally poorly informed mates, instead of doing a little objective research must inevitably cast a shadow on your credibility when it comes to your advocacy on other, more important issues.
In Australia we have a saying about such people as “running with the mob”. The term relates to the mindless conformity of panicked sheep.
The Fisker Karma was never designed to be a mass transport sedan, nor a sports car, it was designed for a specific audience. (which it certainly captured).
All things considered, Fisker Automotive was a brave and interesting attempt. Henrik Fisker certainly doesn’t deserve the sneers of people who have never even owned an EV, let alone manufactured several thousand !
My regret is Fisker never had the time or resources to produce the convertible Sunset version. I would have been his first RHD customer.
What sunk Fisker Automotive was the pressure to produce a low cost mass production model, an impossible feat for such a small and underfunded enterprise.