HIGH ROAD

HIGH ROAD Instant KARMA

With its stunning design—and nontrivial $60,000 price cut—Karma Automotive’s new GS-6 is HARD TO RESIST

By Howard Walker

Forget that this curvy, sinewy-bodied Karma is a plug-in hybrid. Or that there’s a fully electric version around the corner. Or that its dashboard can be made from timber salvaged from California wildfires.

No, what will have your head rotating like the gal in The Exorcist is the car’s breathtaking shape. The most beautiful vehicle in the world? This is surely one of them.

Maybe it’s all those rollercoaster swoops and sweeps over the giant 22-inch wheels. Or that raked-back windshield or ski-slope-like rear screen. Or the way the body looks like it’s been stretched like a dollop of Play-Doh. Remember, this is a car that’s almost as long as a BMW 7 Series but as low as a Porsche 911. Gaze at it in profile and it resembles a hip-high Italian supercar—with four doors and a trunk.

But first, a little history lesson. Back in 2011, the LA-based Danish car-designer-turned-entrepreneur Henrik Fisker began building his Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid. Before the company went belly-up in 2013, he’d made around 2,450 cars.

Enter the Chinese Wanxiang Group, which snapped up the assets, kept the gorgeous design, and renamed the car the Karma Revero. The corporation started producing the modified version at a new factory in Moreno Valley, California, in 2016. Alas, a crazy-ambitious $130,000plus price tag, a punishing safety recall, and constant funding challenges meant the car never really gained traction—or sales.

Fast-forward to 2021 and all has changed. After a $100 million cash infusion last summer, a solid business plan, and a ramp-up in dealers—we now have enthusiastic Karma retailers in Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach, and Naples—Karma is back.

Arguably the biggest news is the smarter pricing. The newly launched Karma GS-6 plug-in hybrid has a starting sticker of $85,700. That’s down

POWER FILE

nearly $61,000 from the previous $146,600 asking. And PRICE: FROM $85,700 when the highly anticipated, all-electric, 230-mile- ENGINE: 1.5-LITER TURBO range GSe-6 arrives toward the end of the year, it’ll have 3-CYLINDER BATTERY: 28KWH

LITHIUM-ION POWER: 536 HP

a base price of $81,700. These totals are before any

TORQUE: 550 LB-FT 0-60: 4.5

electric vehicle tax rebates from Uncle Sam, which can

SECONDS TOP SPEED: 125 MPH

add up to $7,500, plus up to $1,000 off your electric bill.

(LIMITED) LENGTH/WIDTH:

To talk technical, this 2021 GS-6 is classified as an

199/85 INCHES WEIGHT: 5,062

extended-range electric vehicle, or EREV. It has two

POUNDS WHY WE LOVE IT:

high-output electric motors spinning the rear wheels, BECAUSE IT TURNS HEADS juiced by a 28-kWh battery packing an impressive 536 FASTER THAN IT ACCELERATES hp and 550 lb-ft of torque. Pedal to the metal, the GS-6 OFF THE LINE. can whizz from standstill to 60 in 4.5 seconds, or 3.9 seconds for the uprated GS-6 Sport. As for going the distance, it has an EPA-rated, pure-electric range of around 60 miles, though Karma claims it’s more like 80 in real-world driving. For anyone who suffers from range anxiety—the fear of an electric car

While that might not sound like much, the GS-6 comes with a BMW- running out of juice in, say, stop-start I-95 traffic—this is a great solution. sourced 1.5-liter turbo 3-cylinder gas motor under the hood. It’s the same Yet the GS-6 drives just like a feisty pure-electric, with neck-snapping one BMW used in its rakish i8 two-seater and Mini still has in its Country- off-the-line acceleration, thrilling mid-range punch for safe passing, and man. When electric power is spent, the gas motor fires up and acts as a easy, relaxed cruising. And that BMW motor is so hushed, you’d never generator—it has no connection with the wheels—giving the Karma a to- even know it’s there. Couple all this with a four-seat interior that’s pure tal range of up to 360 miles before you need to top off the 10-gallon tank. luxury, with rich Bridge of Weir leather, carbon-fiber trim, lovely fit and Or simply plug into a standard Level 2 charger and you’ll have a full bat- finish, and plenty of standard equipment. «tery in four hours. A DC fast charger will deliver 94 percent in 34 minutes. As for driving one of the most beautiful cars around? That’s karma.

Help Sponsor the New

Pet Adoption Center!

Broward County awarded us use of the empty Pompano Beach animal shelter, where we will be able to help even more animals and support Broward on its mission to become a no-kill county. The building will reopen as the Good Karma Pet Adoption Center (GKPAC), but we need the funds to be able to do it.

We’re offering multiple sizes and options, so you can pick what’s right for you!

Order A personalized, engraved brick as Your Commemorative donation!

For More info and to order:

http://bit.ly/gkbrick

3100 NW 19th Terrace, Pompano Beach, FL 33064 | goodkarmapetrescue.org | @GKPetRescue