Fisker Karma coming back!

Karma would be reintroduced within a year, says the Wanxiang Group, which bought Fisker Automotive earlier this year. According to a recent report, the Chinese owner is accelerating the relaunch of Fisker's Karma hybrid luxury car, and will be built with the defunct model’s specs as the basis.

"It will have to be nearly identical to the 2012 model, or it would need to go through (safety) testing and certification again. Also, I don’t think they want to put a lot of engineering into it either, as well as probably use up some of the old parts that are in inventory." a source said. However, the source also told, that the car won't be "100 percent identical" to the 2012 model, and will have "noticeable upgrades" in key areas.

It won't be as easy as it seems, the most prominent obstacle in restarting Karma's production is the disgruntled and disassembled state of much of its supply network. The vendors that supplied many of the parts of the Karma, went through major losses during the demise of its original parent organization- Fisker. Now, getting them back on-board or even getting new suppliers with such past record, won't be an easy task for Wanxiang. Commenting on this production hurdle, another source stated, "They lost money and had dedicated facilities that were severely underutilized, and many scrapped their tools or took them out of their facilities."

The report also states, the company plans to restart Karma production in Finland, where Valmet Automotive previously built the cars under contract. Furthermore, Wanxiang also wants Fisker to complete the development of a second model called the Atlantic. It is a mid-size gasoline-electric hybrid sedan meant to be a more affordable "volume model."

Source: Reuters