California-based Karma Automotive set pricing Friday for the GSe-6, its upcoming battery electric version of its Revero, until recently slated to be called the Revero GTE.
The GSe-6 will cost $79,900, but that’s before a yet-unannounced destination charge ($1,800 on the Revero models for 2020), as well as before considering the $7,500 federal EV tax credit that many buyers will be able to claim. All said, that amounts to about $74,000—or even less if you can claim an additional state or regional incentive.
Karma’s pricing landed two days after what appeared to be shots fired in a premium electric car price war. Lucid Wednesday morning announced the price of its base Air electric sedan, which at $69,900 undercut the Model S. The price advantage lasted most of a day, as Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced a starting price for the Model S of $69,420.
Set for delivery in 2021, the GSe-6 will retain the design of the plug-in hybrid Revero GT but be powered solely by a lithium-ion battery pack ranging up to 110 kilowatt-hours, with a range up to 300 miles. The company said last year that a larger battery pack and 400-mile range are on the way.
Perhaps in a clever nod to the Tesla Model S and Lucid Air that it will need to measure up to, Karma says that its 0-60 mph time will be “fast enough.”
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n a press release accompanying the pricing, Karma VP of sales Joost de Vries called the GSe-6 “the next logical step in our progression as a company.”
Reservations are now being accepted, at a $100 fully refundable fee, and feature details are otherwise sparse—although Karma says that the electric car will offer one-pedal driving, haptic steering-wheel controls, a surround-camera system, adaptive headlamps, and a Level 2 driver-assistance feature.
Karma Automotive started in 2014, with the purchase of the remains of Fisker Automotive by the Chinese auto-parts firm Wanxiang. Although the company has made a number of suggestions that a wide range of products are in the pipeline, its only significant market achievements have been bringing the former Fisker Karma back to production, as the Revero, and then rolling out a revamped version called the Revero GT.
2020 Karma Revero GT
In its evolution from the Revero to the revamped 2020 Revero GT, the model received a number of design tweaks, new features, and important powertrain upgrades, including a much larger battery capacity plus a BMW 1.5-liter turbo-3 in place of the former GM engine. Altogether, it allowed the Revero to achieve 61 miles of all-electric driving, followed by a 26-mpg combined rating in hybrid operation.
Although this long-awaited electric version of the Revero will have a lot to prove—and a high bar to stand up to next to the Model S and Air—its likely it will maintain one significant advantage: It will remain more exclusive than either.