Detroit Auto Show: Fisker Droptop concept debuts, and more blue sky
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Though the mood in Detroit is somewhere between dour and hang-me-with-a- bedsheet, over at the Fisker Automotive stand confidence is soaring. According to company officials, Fisker is on track to begin serial production of the Fisker Karma -- a high-performance range-extended electric, aka a plug-in hybrid -- in May 2010, with annual production targeted at 1,200 per month. The car will be constructed in Finland at Valmet, a well-known high-end coachbuilder.
To underscore the company’s lust for life, it today unveiled a retractable hardtop version of the Karma, called the Karma S (‘S’ stands for ‘Sunset’). It’s essentially the same car with a wheelbase 250 mm shorter. Only 15% of ‘A’ surfaces are common with the four-door coupe. Production is tentatively slated for mid-2011.
Meanwhile, the hard numbers for the propulsion system, developed by Fisker and Quantum Technologies, keep coming. The company promises 50 miles of all-electric range. The battery is rated at 22.6 kilowatt-hours, with a peak discharge of 200 kilowatts, 403 total electric horsepower and a peak torque of 959 pound-feet, 0-60 in 5.8 seconds and a top speed of 125 mph.
The hardest number of all remains the same: $87,900, on sale before the end of 2010.
Other fun facts:
The company raised over $90 million in 2008, from a number of sources, including investors from Qatar and the Silicon Valley investment firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Fisker is in the process of raising yet more money but won’t say how much it wants/needs; that’s a matter that will be determined by the company’s application for Department of Energy loans for green car companies.
With government loans, the company says it could start a proposed project for a lower-cost, four-door sedan in two months.
* Fisker will use a 22.2 kilowatt-hour battery pack with technology licensed from AC Propulsion of San Dimas, Calif.
* The company has 26 dealers signed in North America, including four in Southern California, and two importers signed up in Europe. The business plan calls for up to 40 dealers in the U.S. ‘We have dealers knocking down our doors,’ says Vic Doolan, Fisker board member overseeing the retail operation.
* The mature product plan calls for production of 15,000 units per year, but CEO Henrik Fisker says the company would be profitable even at 4,000 annual unit sales.
Most interesting, given the timbre of the times, is the relationship between GM and Fisker. ‘When we showed here last year,’ says Fisker, ‘most people thought, ‘Oh boy, we won’t see them again.’ [GM Vice-Chairman] Bob Lutz was the only guy to come over and say, ‘Hey, if you need any help, let us know.’ ‘
The company is, for example, using GM’s Ecotec turbocharged four-cylinder as the range-extending generator (260 hp). The plug fitting is the very same as used in the Volt -- ‘You want standardization in these things,’ says Fisker.
Meanwhile, Fisker has been talking to GM and Michigan governor Janet Granholm’s office about locating a production facility in southeast Michigan. With the proper incentives, Fisker says, ‘We would probably get one of the factories [one of GM’s under-utilized or mothballed plants, that is] and refurbish it.’
-- Dan Neil
Photo credits: Fisker Automotive
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In photos: Detroit Production Cars
In photos: Detroit Concept Cars