Hollis Johnson
- The Fisker Karma was the original Model S rival.
- But Fisker Automotive went bankrupt in 2013 leaving Tesla the victor of the electric car space.
- Now, the car is making a comeback, but this time it is being called the Karma Revero.
Want to go fast and look cool in an electric car? Buy a Tesla Model S. Discussion over. After all, the Model S has all the gadgets, performance, and technocratic street cred you'll ever need. However, things were very different at the end of the last decade.
Back in 2010, Tesla wasn't yet an automotive juggernaut with a market cap rivaling that of General Motors. Instead, it was still an upstart car maker with the guy from PayPal and a far-from-mainstream electric sports car as its only product.
And then came the Model S, four door sedan with a surprising amount performance in package relatable to most premium car buyers. But it wasn't immediately crowned king of the hill. That's because there was a rival lurking in the wings.
The Fisker Karma. The stunningly beautiful Karma sedan was the brainchild of famed car designer Henrik Fisker. Unlike the all-electric Model S, the Karma was an electric car with a gasoline generator on board.
Both cars vied for the hearts and wallets of the eco-friendly elite. And for a while, Fisker held its own. Leonardo DiCaprio had a Karma. In fact, the Oscar-winner wasn't just the company's brand ambassador, he was an investor. "Fast and Furious" star Tyrese owned one as well. As did Justin Bieber, whose car was wrapped in chrome.
However, Hurricane Sandy, a parking lot with several hundred flooded out Karmas, and a defunct battery supplier teamed up to doom the budding car company.
By November 2013, Fisker Automotive was bankrupt, leaving the increasingly capable Model S as the victor.
Now, the Karma is back. In 2014, Wanxiang America, the Illinois-based subsidiary of China's Wanxiang Group, purchased the intellectual property and assets of the defunct Fisker Automotive for $150 million. Soon afterward, Karma Automotive was created. In 2017, the company began customer deliveries of its first model - the resurrected sedan formerly known as the Fisker Karma.
Recently, Business Insider spent a day with a 2018 Karma Revero test car clad in an eye-catching Corona Del Sol paint job. The 2018 Revero starts at $130,000 and tops out at around $140,000.