The old Fisker Karma was an intriguing and deeply flawed hybrid that was sort of fascinatingly disjointed. The new Karma, now called the Revero by a company named Karma, is still just as messy—and inefficient.
Last month we highlighted a Bloomberg review of the new Karma Revero, which was an almost alarming take on the car, claiming it had a horrible ride quality, felt heavier than the moon, was finished in some odd styling cues reminiscent of Scientology, and revealed that the company couldn’t even describe its target market. That made for a heavy hybrid that costs more than $130,000 and isn’t really all that practical. But that wasn’t it.
Now the EPA has gotten its hands on the new Revero, and things are still awful. According to the EPA report, via InsideEVs, Revero owners are likely to spend $500 more per year in fuel costs that the average new vehicle. That’s right—buy this fancy expensive hybrid and end up paying more for gas than if you bought almost anything else.
And why is that? Well it has to do with the EPA’s other findings. Karma claims the Revero gets 50 miles of pure electric range, but the EPA claimed only 37 miles. Karma claims the Revero has a total range of 300 miles, but the EPA rated it at only 240. The car was rated at an abysmal 60 MPGe combined, and 20 MPG combined for only the gasoline output of the car. There are better trucks on the market.
As InsideEVs pointed out, these new figures aren’t surprising considering they’re nearly identically to the old Fisker Karma, which got 33 miles of EV range, 54 MPGe, 20 MPG, and claimed owners spent an estimated $1,000 in higher fuel costs than average. Hey! The price of the car went up but you’ll spend more-than-average-but-not-as-much on fuel every year now!
So what does that leave the Karma Revero with? It’s styling? Some people seem to like it. They include Justin Bieber. I don’t mind the styling being different, but who on Earth would pay $130,000 for an inefficient, slow and heavy hybrid when they could get something good?
Then again, this is a brand whose website quotes CNET with, “Panel gaps look tight and consistent, and the paint job is flawless.” Confidence inspiring!