Finland chosen to make Karma

Fisker Automotive on Monday said that Valmet Automotive of Finland, which currently makes the Porsche Boxster and Cayman, will manufacture the Fisker Karma.

Valmet's Uusikaupunki plant will start producing Karmas in 2009

The Fisker Karma will be a luxury plug-in hybrid sedan the company intends to start selling in the fourth quarter of 2009 to North American customers with an expected price of about US$80,000. In addition to announcing its manufacturing partner, Fisker Automotive revealed a few more specifics on the Karma, which the company started test-driving earlier this year.

Running solely on its custom-built lithium-ion battery, the Karma will have a range of 80km from a full charge. The full range, using both its petrol tank and battery, will be more than 550km. Fuel efficiency will be over 100 miles per gallon in old money — or about 2.4L/100km for children of the metric age — for extended drives. Top speed will be around 200km/h, and acceleration from 0 to 60mph (96km/h) will occur in less than six seconds.

The news of a manufacturing partner comes a few days after rival Tesla Motors started production of its all-electric, US$100,000 Roadster. Tesla and Fisker are currently engaged in legal battle, with Tesla accusing Fisker Automotive CEO Henrik Fisker and a colleague of stealing company information when they did design work for Tesla.

Fisker Automotive predicts that sales to European customers will begin in 2010 and that annual production should reach 15,000 cars. In an interview with CNET News.com earlier this year, Henrik Fisker said that the company intends to follow the Karma with a smaller hybrid sedan that will cost about US$40,000.