The long road to getting the Fisker Karma back in production is approaching its end.
It was in early 2014 that China’s Wanxiang bought the remains of Fisker, including the rights to the failed automaker’s handsome albeit somewhat flawed extended-range electric sedan.
Since them Wanxiang has rebranded the remains of Fisker as Karma, unveiled a new logo for the company and started work on a new production site in California. The original Karma was sourced from independent vehicle manufacturer Valmet of Finland.
Now a senior executive at Karma has given an update on those plans to The Wall Street Journal.
2012 Fisker Karma during road test, Los Angeles, Feb 2012
Enlarge Photo
Karma chief marketing officer Jim Taylor, a former General Motors Company [NYSE:GM] executive, told the business daily that the Karma sedan would be updated and in the process be renamed the Revero. The name is said to be a translation of the word “truth” in Latin.
The updated car is due to be revealed in July or August of this year, though there’s been no confirmation of when it will go on sale. In addition to a new name, the updated car will also come with a new battery, charging system and electric control software. Much of the technology will be sourced from BMW which Karma signed a deal with last year.
Taylor also revealed that Karma is looking at a direct-sales model similar to the one pioneered by Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA]. Fisker had gone the traditional route of using franchised dealers.
One final tidbit revealed by Taylor was that Karma already had around 500 employees, with a fifth of these working at the new production site located in Moreno Valley, California.
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