Karma Automotive
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
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Sections to complete：02 · 05
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Karma Automotive was an Irvine, California-based luxury electric vehicle maker created in 2014 out of the ashes of Fisker Automotive after China's Wanxiang Group bought Fisker's assets in bankruptcy. It built the $135,000 Karma Revero plug-in hybrid sedan (the successor to the Fisker Karma) at its Southern California factory. After years of losses and leadership turmoil, the company laid off hundreds of workers in 2020 and repositioned itself from a retail automaker into a high-tech mobility incubator offering design, engineering and manufacturing services to other automakers.
02 / FAILURE REASONS
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03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded from Fisker's ashes
Karma Automotive was formed in 2014 after Wanxiang Group acquired the bankrupt Fisker Automotive's assets, inheriting the Karma plug-in hybrid design.
- Layoffs and repositioning
The company cut about 200 workers in late 2019 and 60 more in early 2020 (about 25% of its workforce), repositioning from a retail auto seller to a design and engineering incubator for other automakers, unveiling the Revero GTS and SC2 electric concept.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
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Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN / AFTERMATH
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