Aside from a sexy prototype and a few photos, no one's seen much of the plug-in hybrid Fisker Automotive is working on, but with powertrain testing reportedly underway and an infusion of cash just around the corner, the company already is looking ahead to its next car.
Company founder Henrik Fisker says it will be a smaller, less expensive version of the $80,000 plug-in hybrid sedan he unveiled in January. That car is still a long way from the showroom, but today the company said it's built three prototypes and is track-testing battery software management system and the plug-in hybrid drivetrain developed by Quantum Technologies.
"We are very excited about the initial test results of the Fisker Karma prototype," company founder Henrik Fisker said in a statement. "The vehicle dynamics and fuel economy have performed better than expected and we remain on target for our fourth quarter 2009 initial delivery."
That's an incredibly tight - some say unrealistic, if not impossible - deadline to meet, but that isn't keeping Fisker from planning his next car.
Fisker says he believes advancements in battery technology will cut costs enough to allow him to offer a sedan at half the cost of the Karma within five years. According to CNET, which says the company expects to secure another $65 million in funding next month, Fisker sees the Karma competing with the BMW 7-series and the smaller sedan competing with the 3-Series.
Of course, he's got to build the Karma first. Fisker is using the Q-Drive hybrid drivetrain developed by Quantum Technologies and a lithium ion battery, which will be charged by a small internal combustion engine. The company says it is "fine tuning" the battery software, performing "initial vehicle testing" and starting crash test simulations.
Fisker hasn't offered any specifics about the drivetrain - where it's getting the battery, how big the motor is, what sort of internal combustion engine it'll use to drive the generator - and so far hasn't provided any photos of the hybrid drivetrain in the car. We also don't know just what's happening in those "spy shots" the company sent out last week, or what's under the hood of the car. The company wouldn't tell us, citing "competitive reasons." But a Fisker spokeswoman says we'll see a prototype with the plug-in hybrid drivetrain at the Los Angeles auto show in November.
Fisker says it's received more than 500 orders for the car since unveiling it at the Detroit auto show, and the company is holding fast to its claim that it will deliver the first car by the end of next year. What's more, it plans to turn out 1,250 cars a month by the end of 2010. Where those cars will be built remains an open question; a Fisker spokeswoman says there will be an announcement within a few weeks. There's been some speculation that Fisker will build the cars in Detroit.
Fisker's set some audacious goals given he and Quantum Technologies started working together just 18 months ago. As a rule of thumb, it takes three to five years to develop a car. It took Tesla Motors 3 1/2 years to get the Tesla Roadster out the door, and General Motors is scrambling to get the Chevrolet Volt done in three.
That's not to say Fisker can't do it. But the industry experts we've talked to give him pretty long odds of putting cars in driveways by 2010.
