Test results: Karma is drop-dead gorgeous
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The good news: Consumer Reports' chief auto tester says Fisker's $100,000-plus Karma is "gorgeous."
The bad news: It's drop-dead gorgeous.
CR told Reuters that the luxury Karma it bought from a dealer just days earlier died last week during the start of evaluation testing.
"It's a little disconcerting that you pay that amount of money for a car and it lasts basically 180 miles before going wrong," David Champion, senior director for the magazine's auto test center, told Reuters.
Champion said the car was cruising at 65 mph when a warning light came on. Testers parked the car and couldn't restart it.
It's not the first bad news for the EV startup, which recalled 239 Karmas in December because of potential battery defects. And Fisker suspended production last month while it tries to renegotiate a federal loan.
Roger Ormisher, Fisker's communications director, said the car had been returned to the dealership from which it was purchased and "was in proper working order when it got to the dealership." He said they have not determined what caused the failure and haven't been able to replicate it.
