[LonePalmBJ]

Jim Taylor, Karma Automotive's Chief Marketing Officer, sat with Autoline host John McElroy, Joe White from Reuters and Dave Guilford from Automotive News to talk about the current state and future of Karma Automotive. Definitely worth a watch.

http://www.autoline.tv/show/2007

 

[shrowell]

Thank you for sharing this link - very upbeat. Of course, you expect a CMO to be upbeat, and I am sure there're a lot of issues still to be resolved but it sounds like KA is gaining significant momentum.

 

[steven]

worth a watch.

That was extremely long, couldn't watch the whole thing... Thank you LonePalmBJ for posting.

 

[alexofsb]

Worth Watching - for sure.

I didn't feel it was too long as there were important questions and Jim Taylor certainly had the answers. All very positive for every Fisker Karma owner.

I just find it a bit difficult to get used to calling my car a Karma, where it has always been a Fisker.

Like to take the opportunity to add to this post my car is now just over 4 years in nearly daily operation, all without any significant issues. Love driving it and still get frequent compliments on its look.

 

[JCMorrill]

You have an "original Fisker Karma!"

 

[sherrillt]

Great interview and insights.

The key problems for KA and the Karma is that it is facing the perfect storm of low fuel prices (making plug-in less attractive for their claimed segment), new luxury entrys into the segment since it's last introduction, and mediocre performance.

It will be interesting to see if they can "go live" this summer with sales and what the market reception will be - Not sure they can recapture the celebrity cache Fisker had previously.

 

[DHH]

I watched the entire thing last night. It seems that they are pretty far away from producing anything or it would have been mentioned in the interview - there wasn't even a hint of when production could resume. We may never see the **** thing built.

Also - competing with Aston for the $175k car market seems like a tough market to get into - the Panamera Turbo, S63 or the Maserati buyers in the 130-150k market seems like the place to be to me.

 

[EV Driver]

Just watched it. Interesting that Barny is still with the company. I just don't see who will buy this vehicle at that price point.

Who would be crazy enough to spend $175k on an unknown brand with no cachet. Maserati a historic brand, went downmarket with the Ghibli- a huge hit. They are going the wrong way on price.

The closest competitor is the Panamera E-Hybrid. Porsche only sold 407 plug in Panamera's in 2015 at $96k a pop. Could be surprised, but I also thought the original Fisker Karma would be flying off the shelf at $100k in 2012. He did mention fifty percent of sales going to China; maybe they are the main market for the re-launched Karma?

 

[JCMorrill]

Who would be crazy enough to spend $175k on an unknown brand with no cachet?

Probably the same kind of people crazy enough to buy a used Karma a year ago with Fisker out of business. The :heart: wants what the :heart: wants!

 

[Nin ja]

Probably the same kind of people crazy enough to buy a used Karma a year ago with Fisker out of business. The :heart: wants what the :heart: wants!

easy when it's 50 cents on the dollars ...

 

[JCMorrill]

Let's say "easier". I've seen evidence that there are lots of other >$100K cars that are selling for $50K after they were 3 years old. And, our Karmas haven't lost any value at all over the last year (now that they're 4).

 

[avw]

I watched the whole thing...and now I'm guessing as to why service shops are losing their certification. He mentions re-establishing connections with old sellers and dealerships and there may be some kind of deal involving exclusivity for service agreements, warranty coverage, parts availability, etc. ...just a guess. I REALLY hope that Silicon Valley Fisker on El Camino in Sunnyvale/Palo Alto isn't going to become my local repair shop because IMHO, they stank.

 

[JAM_22]

@awadding - I would hope not as well since it is my understanding that all they did was the easy work and ship all of the difficult work down to elite Motors in So. Cal. The person I bought my car from used Silicon Valley Fisker and that is what they did with his car.

 

[EV Driver]

It all comes down to $$$$. It is expensive to support two different vehicles and KA would rather limit their resources for the new vehicles. James Taylor said that their would only be 5 dealers in the country- does not make sense to have a bunch of repair facilities if they plan on selling in select markets. With that being said, Southern California is the largest market for Karma and there is no one to take care of our cars. I doubt it is an oversight on their part. I have heard anecdotally that KA has ran out of some parts to support the 2012 cars. That could be why they are limiting the touch points with customers, in their largest market.

 

[BillyO]

He didn't say there would "only be 5 dealers."

 

[FiskerPhilly]

There will be more than 5, and I know for a fact there will be a solution offered soon in the SoCal area.

 

[ArtguySD]

Previous Dealerships?!

Thank you for sharing the video interview. I purchased my Fisker Karma from Marvin K. Brown in Nov. 2012 new. I will share that Marvin K. Brown in San Diego abandoned in summarily fashion their Fisker customers... Without some of the dedicated, knowledgeable and honorable technicians on this forum over the past nearly four years, I do believe that the new KA would have a much more serious challenge to relaunch than they already do... I understand from the interview that KA "most likely" would avoid the higher volume type dealerships... Most likely going with lower volume higher end lux sales environments... All that said, I am happy to have someone fairly close to SD in Orange county with Alex at Elite Motors OC to maintain my car in the interim. Just waiting on the new KA to decide what entity will be available in the future for So. Cal. owners to maintain our vehicles.:dodgy: