In its nine years of existence, the American company Karma Automotive, headquartered in Irvine, California, has failed to achieve any significant commercial success, has failed to launch any of the promised new models, and is now undergoing a relaunch and rebranding process under the leadership of new president Marques McCammon. Over the weekend, Karma revealed its plans for the future and unveiled the new Kaveya electric sports coupe, with the intention of starting production in 2025.
Karma Automotive is the former Fisker Automotive company of Danish designer and entrepreneur Henrik Fisker: in 2014, after bankruptcy, it was bought by Chinese component manufacturer Wanxiang and continued production of the Fisker-designed plug-in hybrid sedan Fisker Karma, renaming it Karma Revero. Henrik Fisker, meanwhile, founded a new company named after himself, Fisker Inc., and managed to promote it well: production of the first model, the Fisker Ocean crossover, began, and three more new products are on the way.
The Karma company also had big plans, but due to inept management and legal squabbles with former employees, none of the new projects were ever implemented: the SC2 concept coupe never became serial, we did not even see the promised pickup truck and crossover in status concepts, the commercial OEM platform E-Flex also stalled. Earlier this year, Karma sought to assemble commercial electric trucks from German startup B-ON, but it filed for bankruptcy in September and is currently in the process of restructuring.
Karma Kaveya 1/2 Karma Kaveya 2/2
In the spring, Karma Automotive got a new president — Marques McCammon, who previously worked at Chrysler, Saleen and Aptera. As Bloomberg reports, McCammon conducted a complete audit of the company and was surprised to discover that it had invested billions of dollars in unrelated new developments, and now the new president wants to make the company entrusted to him work as a single organism, which will require, among other things, modernization of production . According to McCammon, Karma should become “the embodiment of American success” and produce from 3,000 to 5,000 exclusive sports electric vehicles per year. The new Karma models are aimed at competing with Aston Martin and McLaren, the flagship sports car will be the Kaveya coupe unveiled on November 11 in Las Vegas.
Karma Kaveya 1/2 Karma Kaveya 2/2
Kaveya means “poetry in motion” in Hindi; the coupe’s appearance was developed by Karma’s new chief designer, Michelle Christensen, who previously worked at Honda; the production version of the second-generation Acura NSX supercar is her work. In essence, Karma Kaveya is a development of the above-mentioned Karma SC2 concept from 2019, but with a revised design and updated technical components. Overall length of Kaveya is 4767 mm, width — 2002 mm, height — 1225 mm, wheelbase — 2718 mm. The Kaveya interior, which is accessed by lift-up doors like butterfly wings, has not yet been declassified.
Karma Kaveya 1/5 Karma Kaveya 2/5 Karma Kaveya 3/5 Karma Kaveya 4/5 Karma Kaveya 5/5
The Karma Kaveya will be offered in two versions: a rear-wheel drive with 400 kW (544 hp) will go on sale in the fourth quarter of 2025, and an all-wheel drive with 880 kW (1,196 hp) will hit the market in the fourth quarter of 2026. Acceleration to “hundreds” in about 3 seconds, a top speed of 290 km/h, a high-voltage battery with a capacity of 120 kWh and a range of over 400 km on a single charge are promised. The Kaveya's body strength structure will be made of aluminum alloy, and the outer panels will be made of carbon fiber. The curb weight will be about 2.4 tons.
Karma Revero
In anticipation of the flagship Kaveya coupe, Karma intends to resume production of the 544-horsepower Revero hybrid sedan in the third quarter of 2024 in a slightly updated form, and the start of sales of the Gyesera electric sedan is scheduled for the fourth quarter of the same year. The design of the Gyesera has not yet been declassified, but judging by the teaser, it is nothing more than another version of the Revero, just without an internal combustion engine. Karma Gyesera will have a battery with a capacity of 120 kWh and will be able to travel more than 400 km on a single charge, the power of the power plant will be 598 hp, the Gyesera will be able to accelerate to 100 km/h in about 4.2 s, the maximum speed is about 220 km/h.
Karma Gyesera
Karma is already accepting pre-orders for all three promised models — a reservation on Revero costs $2,500, on Gyesera — $5,000, on Kaveya — $10,000. Prices will be announced closer to the start of production of each model.
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