Marques McCammon has quite a bit to show. He’s president of Karma Automotive, a place he started in 2023, taking the lead of an organization that’s had a turbulent historical past, to say the least. He has an aspirational objective: to make Karma into America’s ultra-luxury automobile producer. “There may be not an Aston, Ferrari, McLaren, or Lamborghini class of auto within the US,” he says.
This might be one more reboot for a corporation born out of Henrik Fisker’s failure. No, not that failure, however the one which got here earlier than. The Fisker Karma launched in 2012 and was instantly heralded for being one of many best-looking and most-innovative grand touring automobiles on the planet.
Reward didn’t result in success. The model went bankrupt only a 12 months later, its property offered off and relaunched as Karma Automotive in 2016. Its main product remains to be mainly that very same automotive, although it’s gone by way of a couple of identify adjustments. What was initially the Karma grew to become the Revero, then fell sufferer to an alphanumeric rebranding to GS-6 in 2021. At this time, it’s simply Revero once more.
”There may be not an Aston, Ferrari, McLaren, or Lamborghini class of auto within the US.”
It’s a turbulent historical past for a automotive with an fascinating structure, a sequence hybrid design that paired comparatively small battery packs of assorted sizes smaller than 30kWh, relying on configuration, with a 1.5-liter, three-cylinder engine sourced from BMW.
That engine, although, didn’t flip the wheels. It solely offered sufficient further electrical energy to increase the Karma’s vary out to 360 miles. A couple of different automobiles, just like the Chevrolet Volt and BMW i3, experimented with this strategy, nevertheless it by no means actually caught on.
At this time, the sequence hybrid is all of a sudden fashionable, although now known as an prolonged vary EV or EREV. Ram is positioning its Ramcharger, with an onboard 3.6-liter V6, as an answer for giant towing vary with out a gigantic battery. Likewise, Scout Motors says its non-obligatory Harvester EREV is the answer for potential consumers affected by untimely vary anxiousness.
However Karma Automotive, née Fisker, was doing it earlier than it was cool, and McCammon says the EREV’s time has lastly come. He factors to the Chinese language market as proof. “BYD got here in with EREV, their highest promoting models had been EREV automobiles, they usually had been consuming market share away from all of the BEV guys, Tesla particularly,” he says. (BYD offered 4.2 million automobiles globally in 2024, greater than twice as many as Tesla.)
McCammon hopes to capitalize on that momentum, refocusing the corporate’s efforts round EREVs. Karma had beforehand introduced the launch of a totally electrical mannequin known as Kaveya, ditching the vary extender for a much bigger battery and 1,000 horsepower value of electrical motors. That automotive, now, isn’t coming till 2027.
McCammon says this isn’t a delay, however a response to market demand. Karma will carry out its full EV after different gamers within the premium luxurious efficiency house carry theirs to the get together. “We all know {that a} sure firm that likes the colour purple and prancing horses is popping out with an EV. So we’re going to maneuver our EV sports activities coupe to be simply behind them,” he says.
For those who’re going to fast-follow, Ferrari’s a superb one to shadow.
So it’s out with the Kaveya and in with the Amaris, which debuts in the present day. It’s an EREV just like the Revero however powered by a brand new engine. The three-cylinder, BMW-sourced unit is out, changed by a four-cylinder that McCammon says provides extra energy and character.
“So that you consider Shelby’s Cobra, the Viper, the aspect port of exhaust is form of an American signature,” McCammon says. “In order that’s one thing we’re going to carry again.”
Previously, the small-displacement engines in sequence hybrids would drone alongside at a set RPM — a velocity chosen for effectivity, not for acoustics. The result’s a grating sound that producers historically attempt to cover, not spotlight.
“We all know {that a} sure firm that likes the colour purple and prancing horses is popping out with an EV.”
That engine will cost batteries with a brand new chemistry optimized for frequent charging and discharging, and the automotive will supply full energy till there’s lower than 5 miles of vary left within the battery pack. “If I can’t take it to the observe and do a few laps round it and luxuriate in myself, then it’s form of a waste,” McCammon says.
The sourcing of these batteries, although, might show problematic. Whereas Karma builds its personal battery packs at its Moreno Valley, California, manufacturing unit, it buys the person cells from a provider. McCammon says that Karma will cease sourcing cells from China by the tip of the 12 months, and whereas the brand new provider is nearer to house, it’s not home.
“I truthfully didn’t anticipate questioning about tariffs inside the Americas,” McCammon says, a standard chorus proper now throughout quite a few industries. The present commerce battle of retaliatory tariffs with US neighbors to the north and south might complicate Karma’s plans.
That might end in larger costs, however the Amaris will probably be a considerably dearer automotive regardless. Although its total structure and design are much like the Revero, it’s set to be extra premium throughout the board, together with a physique manufactured from carbon fiber reasonably than aluminum, higher supplies on the inside, and a bunch of latest tech.
There’s a showy new 4K show contained in the cabin and a brand new system structure for the drivetrain system counting on fewer, extra highly effective processors. McCammon says these chips would solely come from a US supply, however given his time at former Intel subsidiary Wind River, and given Karma’s prior agreements with the corporate, the Amaris having Intel inside looks like a protected guess.
The Amaris is ready to go on sale late subsequent 12 months, when it should be part of one other new mannequin, the Gyesera, an extended and low grand tourer that may change the Revero. Gyesera was initially deliberate to be an EV, however it should as a substitute keep the EREV course like its predecessor.
Gyesera goes into manufacturing someday earlier than the Amaris, which means Karma goes to must soldier on for the remainder of 2025 with the Revero. This 12 months marks its ultimate run of 160 automobiles, 30 in a higher-end Invictus trim, with upgraded Ohlins suspension, larger wheels, and sufficient different goodies to lift its value to $185,000.
That’s a major bump over the bottom Revero’s value of $123,100 and lots of money for a automotive that’s mainly 13 years outdated. However then you’ll be able to spend as a lot on a brand new Tesla Mannequin S, a machine that’s likewise considerably the identical because it was in 2012.
But it surely’s the Amaris that actually marks the true manner ahead for the model. Subsequent 12 months appears like a good distance off, given how lengthy the corporate has been promising new and thrilling issues. Skeptical? McCammon says he doesn’t blame you, however he’s right here to vary your thoughts.
“Usually, within the auto trade, we maintain our plans actually near the vest, and we solely allow you to see it proper once we’re about to ship. I’m selecting to place the imaginative and prescient on the market, so everybody sees precisely the place I’m going, and mainly put my neck on the road,” he says. “Maintain me accountable.”
