Fisker Karma looks set to cost £100k in UK
We have to congratulate Henrik Fisker on getting Fisker Karma to market – it’s an immense achievement. But is the Fisker Karma pricing itself out of the market?
We thought that Fisker were planning on selling the Karma in the UK in the £70-80k range; after all, that was what Henrik Fisker said. But if the reveal of US and Euro prices are anything to go by, it looks like the Fisker Karma will be starting at around £100k – and going up from there.
In Germany the entry price for the Karma is set to be €101k. Now with the volatility of currencies at the moment it’s not that easy to take that as a straight conversion – which would be around £84k – but it is simple to look at what Fisker were going to charge for the Karma in Europe, which was €79k.
Not just that, but the Karma will start at €10k in Europe, with other models costing €11k and €117k. It’s the same in the US, where the entry-level Karma now starts the wrong side of $100k, when the original price was said to be $80k when the Karma was first announced.
Of course, none of this will stop the Karma from selling, especially as it will benefit from tax breaks for plug-in and EV cars allowing businesses – the most likely buyer of Karmas – to write off the cost in year one and allow employees to escape BIK tax costs.
But with a target of 15,000 sales in 2012, £100k is a huge entry point for the Fisker Karma.
PhilipJH says
The Fisker Karma WILL sell for exactly the reason you point out. BIK for the XJ is 30% of £70k, which means £21k is taxable at your marginal rate. If you pay 50% that’s a tax bill of £11.5k. By contrast the Karma is charged at 5% on £100k, meaning a tax bill of £2.5k. £9k a year difference in the tax bill is like a free family holiday every year.