Fisker Karma Review Video

The first review of the Fisker Karma range-extender on video from a US Fisker dealer.

Finally, after a rather lengthy wait, the Fisker Karma is making its way in to the hands of real customers. And real cars means the opportunity to review the Karma, something a US Fisker dealer has put on video.

Of course, a video review of Henrik Fisker’s baby from a franchised dealer – even when they get a pro driver to do it – is perhaps never going to be the most objective piece of reporting ever seen, but it does at least give us the opportunity for a real-world view of the Karma.

It’s known we don’t think much of electric cars, and hybrids are but a stop-gap sop to the eco-mentalist brigade. But if you’re going to build a hybrid then the range-extender is the way to go.

Making it a plug-in also brings the opportunity for some chunky tax breaks too, which makes the Fisker Karma very appealing as a company car. It has performance on a par with a 3.0 TDV6 XJ but, unlike the Jaguar, it will be entirely free of BIK for UK business users.

The fact the Fisker Karma will probably cost £100k in the UK is off-putting – as perhaps is the likely chunky depreciation – but with businesses able to write the Karma down entirely in year one and employees (read directors of self-owned companies) paying no tax to have the Karma at their disposal, it should sell very well.

The Karma looks good too, but that’s down to Henrik Fisker – a former Aston Martin design man. It perhaps even holds its own in the looks v performance v credibility balance that we all address when we decide what to buy.

True, for £100k its performance is poor. But Henrik Fisker thinks he can better utilise the Karma’s immense torque with new gearbox software which – he says – could cut the 0-60mph time in half. If he can do that, the Karma will seem a real luxury bargain. But, just like every electric car – range-extender or not – it’s a rich-man’s toy.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Fisker Karma Review Video