Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Cars
  3. News

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Should Tesla worry about the reincarnated Karma hybrid?

Ronan Glon
By

Karma Automotive, a Chinese-owned firm previously known as Fisker Automotive, has introduced a gasoline-electric sedan named Revero.

The Revero was born from the scattered ashes of the Fisker Karma, a luxurious sedan sold in strictly limited numbers in 2011 and 2012. The aesthetic differences between the Revero and the Karma are minor at best. Careful observers will point out the Revero features new emblems — which are hand-painted, according to the company — a revised grille, new-look headlights, and new alloy wheel designs. The cabin receives a more modern infotainment system developed from scratch.

Recommended Videos

Like its Fisker-badged predecessor, the Revero is powered by a gasoline-electric drivetrain built around a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine borrowed from the General Motors parts bin. The turbo four acts as a range extender that charges a lithium-ion battery pack, meaning it doesn’t directly spin the wheels. The Chevrolet Volt uses a similar setup.

Related

The 21.4kWh battery pack feeds the electric motors that zap the rear wheels with 403 horsepower and 981 pound-feet of torque. According to Green Car Reports the Revero hits 60 mph from a stop in 5.4 seconds — over a second faster than the Fisker Karma. An 80-percent charge is available in just 24 minutes thanks to an on-board quick charger. Additionally, a roof-mounted solar panel can provide about a mile and a half’s worth of range per day in ideal weather conditions.

Karma executives openly admit they’re aiming for Tesla.

“We think we’re in Tesla’s court. If it was just about style, we would only go head to head with Aston Martin and Maserati. But these buyers are also interested in the technology,” affirmed Jim Taylor, the company’s chief revenue officer, in an interview with Automotive News.

Karma will assemble the Revero in a facility located in California, a stone’s throw from the Tesla factory. And while the company hasn’t disclosed sales projections yet, its promotional material strongly suggests the Revero will be a low-volume niche model.

Read more: Mamma mia! Fiat could launch a “copy” of the Tesla Model 3 with a more Italian look

“No one needs a product like this to get from point A to point B. We exist for those who have to have one. There are plenty of exceptional cars out there for the rest of you,” the company’s official website states.

The Karma Revero will go on sale shortly with a base price of about $130,000 before options and government incentives are factored in. Karma has previously announced plans to sell cars through privately-owned stores, a strategy pioneered by Tesla, as well as online and through traditional dealerships.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Ronan Glon
Ronan Glon
Contributor
Ronan Glon is an American automotive and tech journalist based in southern France. As a long-time contributor to Digital…
Bill Gates is ‘super-worried’ about a second wave of coronavirus
Bill Gates

Bill Gates is concerned the United States is vulnerable to a second wave of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 if states are not careful about how they lift social distancing restrictions.

"I’m super-worried about it," Gates said in an interview with Vox's Ezra Klein Show Monday. "Unless they’re very gradual and pick the things that we know don’t raise the rate of infection over one, then you’re going to have this heterogeneity where parts of the U.S. will be doing well and other parts will be doing poorly. The temptation to interdict travel between those parts will be very difficult."

Read more
Worried about bills during the coronavirus pandemic? This A.I. lawyer can help
Paying bills 1

Anyone who says they’re not worried about the future right now isn’t telling the truth. But while we’re all worried about the health implications of the COVID-19 coronavirus, for many the economic ramifications run an extremely close second. Especially for those without savings, or those in low-paid gig economy jobs, anxieties about how to pay the next bill are pretty darn scary. Even if it’s a type of scary that no Hollywood pandemic movie is ever going to touch.

Give a round of applause, then, to Joshua Browder: The 24-year-old legal-tech whiz kid behind DoNotPay, a growing arsenal of free automated A.I. tools that everyday consumers can use to do everything from disputing parking tickets to suing robocall scammers. His latest creation is tailor-made for those fretting about the impact that the coronavirus crisis is going to have on their ability to pay the next time they face demands.

Read more
Doctors worry about the terrifying possibility that vaping makes COVID-19 worse
Man Smoking Electronic Cigarette

Before the coronavirus outbreak, public health officials began to target teen vaping after an outbreak of deadly lung illnesses was linked to e-cigarettes, prompting the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban flavored vaping products across the country. Now, many of those same officials fear that vaping-related lung damage could cause the coronavirus, formally known as COVID-19, to present worse symptoms.

The question of whether vaping could worsen the effects of COVID-19 came up in a press conference with Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday morning, when she announced the state would issue “stay at home” orders for residents starting at midnight. She also said that several physicians she had spoken with mentioned that teens who had been vaping were more susceptible to coronavirus, and possibly could have more severe symptoms if they contracted it.
Evidence stacking up
Whitmer did not respond to a request for comment, but the research on this possible link is starting to stack up. The National Institute on Drug Abuse published a reminder on March 12 that the virus could hit those with substance abuse disorders “particularly hard.” In San Francisco, doctors are already on alert over whether the rates of vaping are connected to the rates of COVID-19 in young people.

Read more