[brian]

This just in: "Fisker Karma still waiting for federal certification, deliveries pushed back to November"

http://green.autoblog.com/2011/09/13/fisker-karma-wait-federal-certification-delay/

Mine wasn't due to arrive until the first week of November anyways, but I just hope this doesn't push everything back even farther. Hopefully this just means a lot of us will be getting our cars the same day.

-Brian

 

[Fabulist]

This just in: "Fisker Karma still waiting for federal certification, deliveries pushed back to November"

http://green.autoblog.com/2011/09/13/fisker-karma-wait-federal-certification-delay/

Mine wasn't due to arrive until the first week of November anyways, but I just hope this doesn't push everything back even farther. Hopefully this just means a lot of us will be getting our cars the same day.

The EPA certification delay is impacting production because (I assume) Fisker does not want to go back and tweak cars after they were built if the certification process requires a change to the car. So, for example, my production date has slipped from Aug. 29 to Oct. 12, and my delivery date slipped from early November to late November. So even if your projected delivery date is after the expected EPA certification date, your delivery date may still be impacted. Check with your dealer.

-- Fab.

 

[doug]

Can Fisker send the cars to the dealers before this EPA cert?

 

[brian]

Can Fisker send the cars to the dealers before this EPA cert?

I'm not sure if they can or not, but I'm hoping at least they can keep building them and putting them on ships to send over here. If they don't have anywhere on the mainland to stockpile them then they may keep them in Finland which would delay deliveries. Arg....

-Brian

 

[Fabulist]

Can Fisker send the cars to the dealers before this EPA cert?

According to my dealer, Fisker cannot release the vehicle to the dealer (not even as a demonstrator) without the EPA certification. If this is correct, Fisker could ship the cars stateside, but then will have to wait for the certification before handing them over to the dealers.

-- Fab.

 

[brian]

Does that mean no dealer demos until November? I think my dealer last told me their demos were coming in mid-October. Maybe not...

We need to start an office pool to bet on when the cars will actually start to get delivered. I'm going to bet December 19th... (not sure which year tho).

-Brian

 

[Fabulist]

Does that mean no dealer demos until November? I think my dealer last told me their demos were coming in mid-October. Maybe not...

Not necessarily. The dealer cars may have already been built or even shipped. They just can't give them to the dealers before getting the EPA Certification. It would be relatively easy for the dealer to apply any modifications or upgrades resulting from the certification process, as opposed to cars delivered to owners. Anyway, all of this is rank speculation. The cars will show up when they show up.

I wonder if this is taking so long because the EPA is having trouble finding the exhaust pipe on the Fisker. Someone needs to tell them that it is not the opening at the back of the car.

-- Fab.

 

[brian]

The cars will show up when they show up.

Hehehe! I think you've just found Fisker Automotive's new motto. Forget that "No compromise" B.S. It's now "Fisker Automotive: The cars will show up when they show up". I love it!

-Brian

 

[doug]

This just in: "Fisker Karma still waiting for federal certification, deliveries pushed back to November"

http://green.autoblog.com/2011/09/13/fisker-karma-wait-federal-certification-delay/

The EPA certification delay is impacting production because (I assume) Fisker does not want to go back and tweak cars after they were built if the certification process requires a change to the car.

A commenter on ABG points out that the delays may be due to the last minute changes Fisker has been doing to the exhaust system.

 

[Fabulist]

A commenter on ABG points out that the delays may be due to the last minute changes Fisker has been doing to the exhaust system.

Not sure if the commentator knows anything, but that is a distinct possibility.

-- Fab.

 

[Dutch]

Speculations, speculations. And all the Fisker Automotive Digital Team seems to be doing is putting up cheerful posts on Facebook. Why not just give us an update on the EPA-approval process? It can't be that hard.

 

[doug]

Or at least some plausible explanation for the delay. Otherwise speculation is what you get.

 

[BillyO]

The cars will show up when they show up.

Hehehe! I think you've just found Fisker Automotive's new motto. Forget that "No compromise" B.S. It's now "Fisker Automotive: The cars will show up when they show up". I love it!

-Brian

Actually I tried to pin them down on my delivery date and they said they would make "no car promise"


BillyO

 

[mattjs33]

A commenter on ABG points out that the delays may be due to the last minute changes Fisker has been doing to the exhaust system.

Not sure if the commentator knows anything, but that is a distinct possibility.

-- Fab.

Jeez, isn't anyone paying attention? I said this back on August 31.

 

[Fabulist]

Actually I tried to pin them down on my delivery date and they said they would make "no car promise"

That's odd because both my dealer and Fisker gave me a specific production date for my car with an estimate for shipping time adding up to a definite date range for delivery.

-- Fab.
[hr]

Jeez, isn't anyone paying attention? I said this back on August 31.

The only people who actually know about this are not talking, so maybe it was because Fisker forgot to mail in a check with their application or maybe it was because the EPA testers got confused when they tried to put gas in the electrical charging port. At this point one theory is as good as any other one. :-/

-- Fab.

 

[brian]

Here's what I heard back from my dealer:

Our Fisker representative says that the EPA certification is not causing
delays in delivery. EPA certification is expected by the end of the month.
The Karmas can still be shipped to the US, but they will remain at the
Newark port until the certification is complete. Again, there is no expected
delay in delivery of the cars to our dealership.


-Brian

 

[Fabulist]

Here's what I heard back from my dealer:

Our Fisker representative says that the EPA certification is not causing
delays in delivery. EPA certification is expected by the end of the month.
The Karmas can still be shipped to the US, but they will remain at the
Newark port until the certification is complete. Again, there is no expected
delay in delivery of the cars to our dealership.


-Brian

This is probably referring to the dealer demonstrators, which is also what I heard from dealer in Marin. The delay is pushing back the production of customer cars, however, according to what I have heard from Fisker.

-- Fab.

 

[Dutch]

Today I went for my second test drive (because heavy rain spoiled the first one). Well, it didn't happen. Because of a miscommunication I found the car in the garage being prepped for an exhibit tomorrow, and too many things were disconnected or taken off for the car to be taken for a drive. I now have a new appointment in two weeks time.

But I learned some more about deliveries, and that didn't make me happy. With my production start on August 23 and expected production and delivery time of 4-6 weeks, I was hoping for delivery in early October. But I was told now that they are not expecting delivery of the first car in The Netherlands before the end of October, so I won't be getting mine (I'm second in line) before early November. That's an extra month again :-(

There are several reasons. The delay in the EPA-certification is the first obstacle (European certification also hinges on this). Second problem is that they are still upgrading the cars with the new exhausts and especially with new software, which provides improvements as well as solutions for any glitches that are occuring during test drives (also the test drives we make!).

But there is good news too. The production cars - this time the real ones - will be much better cars than the ones we are now test driving, I was told. And those are already very good. My dealer said to expect notable improvements. Second piece of good news: many cars have already been built!! There are rows and rows of finished cars, many in silver (SE's?), and many others in advanced stages of construction. But they simply cannot be shipped yet, mainly because of the updates they are getting (exhausts, software) and the certification process. So once the factory gets the green light, there could be a flood wave of Karma's coming our way.
[hr]
I see Green Car Reports is now more or less saying the same thing (about the large numbers of produced Karma's that are waiting at the factory for the moment they can legally be shipped and sold):

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1066160_fisker-karma-customer-deliveries-maybe-october-or-november

At least this extra delay provides Fisker with the opportunity/time to get these cars up-to-date with the latest hardware and software improvements before they get shipped. Or as 'our' Johan Cruyff would say: 'Every disadvantage has its advantage'.

 

[Fabulist]

At least this extra delay provides Fisker with the opportunity/time to get these cars up-to-date with the latest hardware and software improvements before they get shipped. Or as 'our' Johan Cruijff would say: 'Every disadvantage has its advantage'.

@Dutch: Thank you for the update. Too bad we don't have anyone on this forum who is close to Uusikaupunki (do we?) who could actually snap a photo of the "Hundreds of Karmas" sitting at the plant to confirm that part of the report.

Personally, I am willing to give Fisker more time if they need it to perfect the car, which is what they seem to be doing, but get frustrated when I get excuses such the Tritone leather shortage which is just too ridiculous to be true or outright denials that moving the expected delivery date from March to July is not really a delay, and all the other crazy stuff in between. As I have said before, I am waiting for a luxury car, not a liver, so delay is not exactly life threatening, but I do expect to be treated with honesty and respect.

Bottom line: I am still a big fan, I talk up the car to anyone who even feigns interest and I am absolutely looking forward to getting my car -- someday.

-- Fab.

 

[SoCalGuy]

Off topic, but does anyone else here think the grill on the Surf and Sunset looks better than the one on the Karma?

It also looks like it would mask the styrofoam better as well. I wonder if that is an easy after market fix/change.