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The Fisker Karma Plug-in Hybrid made its public driving debut over the weekend, just 19 months after being introduced as a concept vehicle. A prototype of the 403hp full size sedan reached speeds in excess of 100mph, utilizing both Sport (hybrid) and Stealth (electric only) modes around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca during the Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races.

Fisker Automotive co-founder and COO Bernhard Koehler was driving.  California-based Fisker Automotive is developing the Karma to be the first production Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV). The Karma proves fuel-efficient vehicles can still generate the passion and excitement that made people fall in love with cars in the first place. Although the Fisker Karma can reach 60mph in six seconds and a top speed of 125mph it can also ambien achieve well over 100mpg. Carbon emissions are also much lower than today’s hybrids.  “This demonstration represents a significant milestone for Fisker Automotive and PHEV technology,” said CEO Henrik Fisker. “The future of clean cars is bright.” Fisker Automotive is scheduled to start customer deliveries in summer 2010.  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, four-cylinder gasoline engine. Combined with two powerful electric motors, these components make up the Q-DRIVE® powertrain exclusive to all Fisker automobiles. Q-DRIVE® delivers the ultimate combination of performance, range and efficiency.

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Fisker Automotive, developer of the Fisker Karma, the first production-ready Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle, has appointed Marti Eulberg Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing. Eulberg was most recently president and CEO of Maserati North America.

In her new role, Eulberg will develop global sales and marketing strategies and manage Fisker’s worldwide retail network. Eulberg is the latest passionate and effective industry veteran to join the team at Fisker, which already consists of top talent from some of the world’s most prestigious automakers.

“Marti’s experience as an international leader is why she will add tremendous value to our operation,” said Henrik Fisker, CEO. “Our retailers are eager to get started working with her.” “It’s not often you get the opportunity to help build a car company from scratch,” said Eulberg. “Fisker has the right idea and the right product at the right pharmacy time. I am very excited to be a part of it.” Fisker Board member Vic Doolan was instrumental in recruiting Eulberg, who helped achieve record sales while both were at Volvo North America and BMW North America. “I can think of no better fit than Ms. Eulberg to lead Fisker’s global sales and marketing activities,” Doolan said. Eulberg, 45, held various executive sales positions at Jaguar Cars and Volvo from 2001 to 2008. From 1992 to 2001 she developed regional sales strategies at BMW North America, and managed the largest metropolitan volume Ford dealers in the US from 1986-1991. Eulberg has an MBA in Marketing from St. Thomas Aquinas and a B.S. in Management from Maryville University. She began her career as an intern with General Motors.

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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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