Indian Car Blog - Carazoo.com

Car makers are all decking up their cars for the 2010 Geneva Auto Show. Are you ready? Looks matter. Do they? At least for cars, the answer would be a definite ‘Yes’. That is why Fisker has taken its Karma to the beauty parlour. Do you believe that? Is it just the looks? No. As far as Fisker is concerned, it is not the looks. Yes, you got it right. It’s the performance.

The Fisker is changing the skin of its Karma. The car wants to shed off some pounds. Yes, the beauty will look prettier. Not just that. Fisker is more bothered about the efficiency. The car is getting all set to show off its aluminum muscles. Yes, the lightweight, super-strong Karma will be walking the ramp at the Geneva Auto Show next month. Surprised? We were too. A car with an aluminum space frame will be displayed at the Geneva Auto Show.

The frame will be very strong, one of the strongest in the car industry. The torsional and bending rigidity too will beat that of other top sports cars. Let’s just wait till next month for the real picture. Aluminum will be giving the Karma the ease to move around quickly. The initial battery charge is believed to allow the car to run a mighty distance of 50 miles.

Would you like to see a picture of the Karma? No, Fisker will not show it. We will not even get to know the car’s weight. However, there’s something I can still tell you. The car uses 5000 and 6000 series high-strength aluminum alloys. It is built around a powertrain and drive system that includes a 2 Litre turbocharged GM Ecotec gas engine or generator up front, a lithium-ion battery pack down the center and a 403-horsepower, two-motor electric drive assembly in the rear. A structural tunnel down the center houses the battery pack and works as a torque tube connecting the front and rear frame sections. The whole thing is held together by 79 meters of precision welds and 1,058 self-piercing rivets. Isn’t this too much of news for the moment?

The frame had been designed keeping in mind the initial four-door sedan Karma. I just heard the rumour that Fisker would be coming up with a coupe and a convertible. No word from Fisker has come directly though. It also looks like the car will be using the same engineering and assembly parameters for the frames of the "Project Nina" family of smaller plug-in electrics. Isn’t that great news?


Now, will the Fisker Karma steal the show at the 2010 Geneva Auto Show? Will the lightweight aluminum muscles attract the right crowd? Well, hope we get just a little more news before the month end. I’m just too desperate to know more. You too? We will hopefully get some news very soon.

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The U.S. Department of Energy has granted a loan of $528 Million to Fisker Automotive to build plug-in hybrid cars.

The loan will facilitate Fisker Automotive’s full scale production of plug-in hybrid electric cars.

The US Department of Energy has signed and agreed to the terms of a conditional totaling over half a billion dollars so that Henrik Fisker’s car company can create affordable, fuel efficient hybrid electric cars. The $528,000,000 loan will also allow Fisker Automotive CEO, Henrik Fisker to create at least 5,000 jobs for autoworkers in the country.

Fisker Automotive is a joint venture between Fisker Coachbuild and Quantum Technologies and the company is based at in Irvine, California.

The company's sole existing product, the Fisker Karma is a plug-in hybrid luxury sports car.

Fisker intends to sell its Karma PHEV in late 2009 in the US and in the second quarter of 2010 in Europe. The Fisker Karma was revealed on 14 January 2008. The Karma features the Q-Drive technology and is powered by an innovative petrol engine/electric motors combination.

The Fisker Karma can be fitted with a solar paneled roof not only to aid in the recharging of its Lithium-Ion batteries but also to aid the cabin climate control system.

Fisker Automotive have suggested that the Karma will be capable of running 100 km for 2.4 litre. Despite it’s eco-friendly background the Karma features a 201 km/h top speed and is capable of reaching 100 km/h from a standstill in 5.8 seconds.

It is no doubt that fuel efficient electrichybrid cars are going to be the next generation of personal transportation.

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Though General Motors has denied the fact, we have heard that the second largest car maker of the world has a hybrid Corvette project on the drawing board.

The regular 2010 Corvette comes with a 430 bhp LS3 6.2-liter V8 engine and six-speed manual transmission. The car can deliver a mileage of 6.8 km/l in the city and 10.2 km/l on the highway. Creating a plugin Corvette is possible as we have witnessed the Fisker Karma. The Fisker Karma is a plug-in hybrid luxury sports sedan that can crank out 400 bhp.

We shouldn’t forget that when the Chevy Volt concept was first unveiled, sometimes it used to be referred to as an electric Camaro indicating to its very sporty design. But that sportiness was scaled back somewhat in favor of more widespread appeal when the car went into production.

However, the Chevrolet Corvette remains General Motors’ iconic lynchpin sports car. It is powered by a very highly spirited line of V8 gas engines, though new CAFE rules regulating a fleet average of 15 km/l by 2016 have some pundits wondering if the sports car’s days could be numbered.

The GM Vice Chairman of Product Development says that the V8 engine of the super car will stay. Down the road, he plans to keep the car alive no matter what it takes even if that means hybridization.

So, what do you think? Isn’t it a hint at rolling out a Corvette hybrid in future?

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