[brian]

For years I wanted a Tesla, but last month I had the opportunity to finally test drive one and I was horribly disappointed. I won't go into the details, but suffice to say that it wasn't worth a fraction of the $150k price tag in any way whatsoever. So, I've now refocused my attention on the Karma which seems to be everything that the Tesla wasn't (luxurious, practical, pretty, affordable, etc.) However, I've learned from my experience with Tesla, and I don't want to pre-order a Karma until I get to test drive one.

The thing I'm not sure of is when a test drive will be possible. Is Fisker going to send all of the first builds out to customers who have been waiting forever for it, or will demos go out to dealers first to try and drum up more business?

Also, any ideas on when people not on the wait-list will have a chance to actually buy one? How long will it take Fisker to fill all of the preorders?

-Brian

 

[Dutch]

Hello Brian, welcome. I think you are right to say that the Fisker Karma is in a whole different league than the Tesla Roadster (and less expensive at 90k, although the Roadster should be around 100-110k and not 150k). From what I've heard - and my source is pretty well-informed - the 100 or so pre-preduction cars that are being built at the moment are still mainly used for testing purposes. They will not be sent to dealers for test drives by customers.

Full production starts on Feb 21 - just two months away from now - and those cars will be going to dealers for customer test drives, which should be possible from March. In March and April the first customers, which have been on the waiting list for three years now, will also get their cars delivered. My estimate is that there are now orders for 4000+ cars. But production is supposed to ramp up quickly to 1000+ cars per month (which is a stunning number, they will be producing as many cars in 1-2 months time as Tesla has produced over the last few years). If you place an order now, delivery will probably be in the autumn of 2011.

But if you wait for a test drive, which is understandable, and place your order then, you are probably looking at delivery late 2011 or early 2012. There will be much publicity as cars become available for automotive journalists and for customer test drives, so the order books will probably be filling up quickly (if the Karma delivers what we expect it to deliver).

 

[brian]

That's good info, thanks! Sounds like I'll have to wait a year to get one, but that's probably good because it'll give them time to get the kinks worked out anyways.

As for Tesla, the base price of $109k is misleading. That's for a pretty stripped down car. It ends up that if you want a Tesla Roadster 2.5 configured such that it doesn't totally suck it's about $145-$150k, and even then it still looks like a kit car compared with the Karma.

-Brian

 

[G Star]

What is the pre-order process like? is there a refundable (or non) deposit? How much? If anything, I might have to wait for the March test drives to decide.

 

[Dutch]

The best way to do this is to go to your local dealer (there is one in almost every state and several in the bigger states). You can use the dealer-locator on the Fisker-website: http://www.fiskerautomotive.com/#!/footer/retailers

The dealer will be able to tell you more about test drives and the (pre-)order process.

 

[ljbad4life]

hopefully Fisker can pull this togther relatively quickly. Maybe do a tour in which pre orderers can take an early spin (like the leaf and volt). It would only require a dozen pre/production cars instead of 50+ Karmas to be built. It would raise a lot of awareness and good pr! I saw the Karma on tour (didnt drive it), I can answer any questions if I can!