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Can we stop holding our breaths?

4531 Views 9 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  Soflauthor, 
B
So, is it official? Were they able to actually get some cars down the assembly line today as planned? I haven't hear anything from any news sources (or Fisker) yet.

-Brian
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Ward's published a new article today titled "Fisker Begins Karma Production in Finland".

http://wardsauto.com/home/fisker_karma_production_110321/

WARD'S said:
WardsAuto.com, Mar 21, 2011 1:45 PM

Start-up electric-vehicle maker Fisker Automotive confirms Job One today of its Karma sports sedan at Valmet Automotive in Finland, saying the plan is to ramp up slowly to avoid any hiccups on the $100,000 EV.

“The cars coming down the line, as from today, are full-production specification and build, but at the moment are very limited in quantity as we ensure full quality,” says Roger Ormisher, a spokesman for the Irvine, CA-based auto maker.

Ormisher provides no additional details but says in an email to Ward’s the initial units are bound for Fisker’s retail network in the U.S. and Europe as demonstrator models. The Karma will start arriving in the driveways of buyers who put down deposits in June and July, and all of those orders are expected to be filled by October.

An extended-range EV, the 4-passenger Karma features a 20-kWh lithium-ion battery pack and pair of 150-kW electric motors displacing a combined equivalent 403 hp. The battery pack will propel the car about 50 miles (80 km) before a 260-hp turbocharged 2.0L gasoline engine takes over for another 250 miles (402 km) of range.

A lightweight chassis and body panels using optimized aluminum material helps the Karma sprint to 60 mph (97 km/h) in as little as 5.9 seconds when using the electric and internal-combustion engine power modes in combination. Top speed is 125 mph (201 km/h).

The Karma joins the Chevy Volt EREV, Nissan Leaf EV, Tesla Roadster EV and Mitsubishi i-MiEV as the first roadworthy entries in the budding global segment.

Contract vehicle-maker Valmet will build the Karma, but a second, more-affordable plug-in EV currently code-named “Nina” will be produced at an assembly plant in Wilmington, DE, that Fisker recently bought from General Motors.

Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker expects to build up 100,000 EVs annually once the Delaware plants hits full production by 2014.
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How many units per month?

Fisker said: "We're going to be ramping up very slowly, very carefully to ensure quality ... This year we want to get over 7,000 deliveries."

Is there anyone with automobile production engineering experience who can make an educated guess on the number of units that are likely to be produced for each of the next 9 months?

If the target is really 7,000, they'll have to produce over 1000 per month toward the end of the year. That seems very aggressive at this point. Those of us on the list with relatively low numbers are more interested in production rates for April - August.
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Today I finalized my order at the Dutch importer/dealer. I had made up my mind to pick Silver Wind as exterior colour, but when I walked out 45 minutes later I had chosen Shadow!

I discovered from the swatches, and it was confirmed to me by the people of Fisker Netherlands, that Shadow has changed from grey (the colour of the car that went on a tour of the US last summer) to a more bronze mixture of grey and brown. See picture below.

I saw this new colour on pictures and videos of the press and dealer testing last month and liked it very much. But I thought it was Earth, which is exclusive to Ecochic. I don't like the interior of Ecochic so much, so I gave up on this colour. Today I heard that all 4 cars at the test track were Sport and that this car was in the new Shadow-scheme. The Shadow-colour on the swatch confirmed this (Earth is much darker by the way).

So I made my last minute switch :D

The interior choice stayed unchanged: Black Sand Monotone

Delivery is planned for July. :cool:
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I think you made an excellent choice of colors. If my Aston wasn't already that color then that's what I would have chosen too.

-Brian
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Dutch said:
Today I finalized my order at the Dutch importer/dealer. I had made up my mind to pick Silver Wind as exterior colour, but when I walked out 45 minutes later I had chosen Shadow!

...

Delivery is planned for July. :cool:
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I chose shadow as well. I'd like to think we both made a good choice.

Is your July delivery a guess, or did you get some verifiable info from your dealer/fisker? What number of the list are you?
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The delivery date was confirmed by my importer/dealer. Although ofcourse, in light of what happened in recent months, it was not possible to make that a guaranteed delivery date. But since production has now started and the date doesn't look too unrealistic, I hope this time it will hold up (hopefully they are not dependent on Japanese parts or paint pigments).

I ordered 3,5 years ago and am very high on the list (but not one of the special edition-clients). I will be among the first customers in Europe to receive the car.

From what I understand, production planning is as follows:

- 200+ dealer cars and demonstration cars: production March, April and May, delivery May and June.
- 100 special edition cars, almost exclusively for the US: production in May, delivery in June.
- Regular cars (although I would call every Karma special instead of regular): production in June, delivery in July.

One more interesting feature I heard the car will have as standard: a rear view camera, in addition to park assist.
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Dutch said:
One more interesting feature I heard the car will have as standard: a rear view camera, in addition to park assist.
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This was listed as an option in the PDF brochure they (Fisker) released last year. From what I have read it has become standard on the EcoSport (and presumably above).

This is good, because I figured I needed it, based on the view out of the prototype that was here for one day last year. ;)
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brian said:
I think you made an excellent choice of colors. If my Aston wasn't already that color then that's what I would have chosen too.

-Brian
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Although the new Shadow is a very, very beautiful colour, my last minute change of heart from Silver Wind kept haunting me. Silver Wind brings out the design of the Karma so well. So after a few days of deliberation I switched back to my original preference.

It will now be - and stay - Silver Wind exterior and Black Sand Monotone interior. The choice that you also made, Brian (sorry Soflauthor).

I didn't make life easy for the people at Kroymans, because they had already sent everything to the factory. It isn't easy to undo something once it is in the 'system'.

Silver Wind is no ordinary silver colour. It was described to me by someone at Kroymans, who saw the car at the Fontana race track, as resembling 'liquid metal' when in motion.
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Dutch said:
brian said:
I think you made an excellent choice of colors. If my Aston wasn't already that color then that's what I would have chosen too.

-Brian
Click to expand...
It will now be - and stay - Silver Wind exterior and Black Sand Monotone interior. The choice that you also made, Brian (sorry Soflauthor).
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Brian,

I'm sure the Silver Wind will be just as beautiful. Color is a very personal choice.

If there's one very minor design nit I have with the Karma, it's that the body has a slightly overly-elongated feel. I thought (my personal view) that a darker color (e.g., shadow) would visually shorten it just a bit. I also happen to like the color :)

Roger (soflauthor)
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