Fisker's Bad Karma

Consumer Reports is a fairly tough judge of consumer vehicles. I frequently disagree with their judgements, but they are very influential, so much so that the major automakers strive to develop their vehicles with CR testing in mind.

Consumer Reports does not like the Karma. In fact, they give it a failing grade.

The Karma ranks as our lowest-rated luxury sedan. Of all sedans, only three have lower overall scores: Chrysler 200,Dodge Avenger, and Nissan Versa SV.

Ouch.

It looks to me like Karma is going to be a beautiful failure. With Tesla coming online, with a much more practical vehicle, and other big luxury players looking into electrification, customers will have few reasons besides styling to pick the Karma. Years from now, collectors will gather to share horror stories about bad software and clumsy user interfaces.

Still, I have to give credit to Fisker, even if they do fail, at least they managed to produce a beautiful and driveable vehicle, which is more than can be said for many other electric start-ups.