Karma Automotive will manufacture its new cars designed by Pininfarina

News comes from Detroit of the signing between Karma Automotive and Pininfarina to produce new automobiles. It was at the Detroit Show that the California-based company announced it will work on the designs of its next cars together with the Italian coachbuilder Pininfarina.

A partnership between Karma Automotive and Pininfarina that aims to build electric cars with sports-car performance and the appeal that the coachbuilder has shown for almost nine decades since its founding.

The origin of Karma Automotive

For this second era of Karma Automotive, the investment and financial backing appear clear thanks to the Chinese capital behind it. It should be remembered that Karma Automotive emerged from the economic collapse that drove Fisker Automotive into bankruptcy.

The American manufacturer that in 2005 opened the way for the concept of a hybrid, luxury, high-performance car, and that ended in 2011 with the departure of its founder, Henrik Fisker, and the consequent gradual disintegration of the company.

From 2005 to 2011, Fisker Automotive produced only the saloon it proposed: the Fisker Karma, a sensational luxury vehicle with a petrol combustion engine supported by an electric system that together delivered over 400 CV and an EV-mode range of 80 km. But financial problems brought the manufacturer down and halted its activity.

In 2014, an investment group of Chinese origin, Wanxiang Group, bought the assets and resumed activity as Karma Automotive. Since then it revived production of the original saloon, which it renamed Karma Revero, a vehicle that practically copied the Fisker Karma and went on sale from late 2016.

The new era of Karma Automotive

Despite producing the Revero, Wanxiang has sought to strengthen the brand and position it as a technological luxury car brand. That is why, in this announcement about the collaboration between Karma Automotive and Pininfarina, the Chinese have reported through their CEO, Lance Zhou, that they are already working on a range of electric cars.

It is therefore no surprise that they have relied on Pininfarina’s design studio. A coachbuilder that has already shown its intention to offer the world everything from the fastest electric sports car, which we will know as Automobili Pininfarina Battista, to more modest electric saloons and SUVs, developed together with its Korean partner Hybrid Kinetic Group.

Whatever the case, the agreement between Karma Automotive and Pininfarina will soon bear fruit. The Chinese want to bring their new luxury electric cars to market as soon as possible and therefore draw on the Italian coachbuilder’s expertise. For that reason the second quarter of 2019 has been set as the period when the first of the productions will be shown, even if only as a sketch or prototype.

The goal is to place Karma in the niche of luxury electric vehicles, initially in the United States and later in other international markets.