Karma Automotive, maker of the low-volume Revero plug-in sedan, has been using the coronavirus downtime to focus on a shift in its business plan to selling its electrified platform technology to companies interested in building vans and other utility vehicles as plug-in hybrids or full EVs.
Karma announced in mid-May that its modular E-Flex platform has been certified as a base for building a pickup. The trucks are becoming a hot new segment for electrified vehicles. The Chinese-funded California startup said it has completed a final demonstration project to show the E-Flex's capabilities for a variety of vehicle applications.
Karma, which has suffered layoffs and management shuffles, told Automotive News last year that its path to profitability could come by selling its engineering and manufacturing capabilities to other companies, while also pursuing its consumer business.
Karma announced its first retailer in Silicon Valley — Karma of San Jose — in April, although the store didn't immediately open to the public because of coronavirus restrictions. California has since loosened those rules.
Karma showed the latest iteration of the Revero — the GTS — at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November with a $150,000 price tag.
Production of the performance variant was to start at the company's Moreno Valley, Calif., facility in the first quarter of the year. As of last week, Karma said the Revero GTS would be available in 2020.
