Destino: the Fisker Karma V8 will survive despite everything

One of the most curious vehicles at the Detroit Motor Show last January was the Destino, simply a Fisker Karma with the LS9 V8 engine transplanted into its engine bay, with all the hybrid powertrain originally fitted by Fisker removed. However, the Destino has run into a practically insurmountable problem: Fisker’s bankruptcy.

The equation is simple. If you are going to build a new model, the least advisable approach would be to use another brand’s model as the basis, because what has happened to Fisker could happen. The threat of Fisker’s bankruptcy, and of having no body supplier for its models, has put the Destino in jeopardy. But its creators claim that, despite everything, the Destino will indeed be built.

For now, it appears the company that will build the Destino (and which counts among its shareholders none other than Bob Lutz) has secured around 20 Karmas without engines. They also announce that they will work with Fisker to try to acquire all the vehicles left in stock, and to persuade other Fisker Karma owners to replace the hybrid engine with the V8. Some Fisker Karma owners have approached the firm that will build the Destino to ask the price of a hybrid-to-petrol-V8 conversion, which would cost around 75,000 euros.

At the same time, the Destino is changing engines. It will no longer be the LS9 V8 that was originally announced, but another GM V8 (from Cadillac, to be precise) with 90 fewer horsepower, because the automatic transmission it was to use would not handle the torque of the Corvette ZR1’s V8.

Via | Wards Auto