Set for August 14-16 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

The Fisker Karma Plug-in Hybrid will make its public driving debut during the Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races on Saturday, August 15, just 19 months after being unveiled as a concept car. It will be the first time a PHEV has appeared on track at the event. The Fisker Karma will also be on display at Concourso Italiano on Friday, August 14, alongside the Karma Sunset hardtop convertible concept. The Karma Sunset will again be on display at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Sunday, August 16.  The Fisker Karma PHEV represents a paradigm shift in alternatively-powered transportation. A full-size luxury sedan with seating for four, the Karma has a range of 50 emission-free miles on a full charge of its Lithium-ion battery, and a total range of 300 miles thanks to an on-board generator turned by traditional but efficient 260hp Ecotec engine. Two 201.5hp electric motors send enough traction through a single-speed differential to reach 60mph in about six seconds and a top speed of 125mph. Together, these components make up the Q-DRIVE® powertrain exclusive to all Fisker automobiles. Q-DRIVE® delivers not only performance, but can average more than 100mpg with a lower carbon output than current hybrids.  “The Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races is the best stage in the world for great moments in automotive history,” said Henrik Fisker, Fisker Automotive CEO.  “Fisker is honored to be a part of it.”

The Fisker Karma prototype is scheduled to complete two laps on the legendary 11-turn Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca course at 11:10 a.m., starting and finishing just ahead of the pedestrian bridge at Turn 5, before returning to the Price Family Dealerships display area on the infield. Fisker executives Henrik Fisker, CEO, and Bernhard Koehler, COO, will be available for media interviews throughout the weekend.

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Fisker Karma Sunset recognized over major manufacturer entries

The Fisker Karma Sunset PHEV hardtop convertible coupe has been named 2009 Production Preview Concept of the Year, part of the North American Concept Vehicle of the Year Awards.

Henrik Fisker, CEO of California-based Fisker Automotive, accepted the honors today during a ceremony at the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan. The North American Concept Vehicle of the Year Awards, now in its eighth year, recognizes those vehicles most likely to shape the future of the automobile industry.  A jury of more than two dozen automotive journalists selected the Karma Sunset over vehicles from seven other major manufacturers. The Production Preview category is for vehicles based on a model that has already been announced or is planned for production. The Fisker Karma Sunset was unveiled to rave reviews in January at the 2009 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.  Based on the same architecture and driven by the same Q-DRIVE® hybrid electric powertrain as the Fisker antibiotics Karma—scheduled to be the world’s first commercially available Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) — the Sunset’s hardtop convertible coupe configuration gives it the perfect blend of style, sportiness and efficiency. It will be available in 2011 through Fisker’s global retail network. The company is already accepting deposits on its website at www.fiskerautomotive.com “We are honored the Karma Sunset has received such great recognition,” said Fisker Automotive CEO and lead designer Henrik Fisker. “The Karma Sunset, along with the talented Fisker Automotive team that helped develop it, proves environmentally friendly vehicles can be fast and sexy, too.” “As the industry’s emerging paradigm shift rewrites the book on how cars are designed and manufactured, the Fisker Karma Sunset concept is a bellwether for the auto industry’s second century,” said Tom Kelley, juror and founder of the North American Concept Vehicle of the Year Awards. Previous winners include the Aston Martin Rapide, Jaguar C-XF and Jaguar ALC.

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In the gloomy basement cafeteria of New York’s Jacob Javits Center, Henrik Fisker is choking down a chicken sandwich and imagining a new kind of American car company. Almost everything is outsourced–engineering, components, the electric power train, manufacturing. No messy work rules to worry about, no postretirement health care. Only design and marketing remain in-house. ”It’s a great time to launch a new car company like ours,” he says, speaking at April’s New York Auto Show, which was drowning in obituaries for the car business. ”We have a different business model.” If you were a semiconductor executive, you’d call this a fabless car company.

Handsome, blond and draped in Armani, the 45-year-old Fisker, a celebrated car designer, is chief executive of Fisker Automotive, headquartered 1,970 miles away from Detroit in Irvine, Calif. His two-year-old company, backed by not quite $200 million in venture capital from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Palo Alto Investors and the Qatar Investment Authority, begins production in November of the 100mpg Fisker Karma, an $88,000 plug-in hybrid sports sedan. Fisker expects to sell 15,000 Karmas a year, including a convertible due in 2011. He has presold 1,300 so far.

[Source: Forbes ]

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European pricing and retail strategy announced

Fisker Automotive, the new American manufacturer of premium green automobiles, debuted in Europe today the world’s first luxury plug-in hybrid vehicles during the Geneva Motor Show. The 2L/100km Fisker Karma saloon will start at €78,780, excluding VAT, and be available through a network of 40 retailers across Europe beginning early 2010. The Karma S hardtop convertible concept is scheduled for 2011, but no pricing has been set.  Fisker Automotive (www.fiskerautomotive.com), headquartered in southern California, has appointed two distributors: For southern Europe, GP Supercars (www.gpsupercars.com) in Merano, Italy represented by CEO Gianfranco Pizzuto; and in northern Europe, Nellemann Group in Copenhagen, Denmark, represented by CEO Jac Nellemann (www.koncern.nellemann.dk/). Nellemann is one of Europe’s oldest auto distributors, with ties going back to Nash and Morris, and at present time Kia, Jaguar and Aston Martin to mention a few. GP Supercars was formed specifically for the distribution of exclusive cars like the Fisker Karma.  “Dealer selection criteria includes a strong and sustained record in retailing premium cars, great customer satisfaction, location and of course an empathy with and an understanding of the market in which they represent us. Most of all we want them to share our vision and excitement for Fisker vehicles and the very positive dynamic it will bring to the automobile market,” said Vic Doolan, Member of the Board of Directors at Fisker Automotive.
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Pricing and European retail strategy to be announced.

Fisker Automotive, the new American manufacturer of premium green automobiles, will unveil its Karma and Karma S luxury plug-in hybrid cars for the first time on European soil at the Geneva Motor Show on March 3, 2009. The 408 horsepower, 100mpg Karma saloon will appear in the production trim customers will receive when deliveries begin the end of this year. The Karma S hardtop convertible coupe concept is scheduled for production in 2011. A European retail network strategy, along with vehicle options and pricing, will also be announced.

The full size, four-place Fisker Karma fuses the traditional and timeless anti anxiety styling of former Aston Martin and BMW auto designer and Fisker Automotive CEO Henrik Fisker, with Q-DRIVE®, a new, clean-energy powertrain, to become the world’s first luxury plug-in hybrid car. The Karma will be able to reach 100 km/h (62mph) in six seconds and a top speed of 200 km/h (125mph), while being able to achieve an average annual fuel consumption rate of 2.4 l/100km (100mpg). It also features new materials and technologies not seen before on any production vehicle, such as a 26cm (10.5”) haptic touch-screen control panel and environmentally friendly interior trim

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