Fisker Automotive is rebranded once again as it prepares to relaunch the Karma plug-in hybrid next year. Company reps also revealed it will continue developing the stalled Atlantic PHEV and a pure EV down the line.
"Fisker Automotive is now Karma Automotive, complete with a new website and logo," GreenCarReports said.
Reportedly, the company - now owned by China's Wanxiang Group - will still call their sole product, Karma.
But why that particular name?
"With new ownership, a new management team, and a new production site, all here in California, it was time to communicate change," Karma's chief marketing officer James Taylor said, as quoted by Forbes.
"Karma is based on the principle of cause and effect, where your actions create your future," Taylor said, adding, "This awareness of what we are doing and why we are doing it - which we characterize as acting with intention - is what we stand for, it's authentic."
It wouldn't be the first time Fisker changed names. Reports from earlier this year said the Fisker Karma would be called the Elux Karma.
With the relaunch, the Karma plug-in hybrid will now be made in a newly-leased facility in Moreno Valley, Calif. The new Karma has a range of 50 miles in electric-only operation and can go 350 miles on electricity and gasoline, Taylor told Bloomberg.
As GCR noted, "that would be a notable improvement" considering the 2012 Karma had 33 miles of electric range and 240 miles in total.
Apart from relaunching the Karma plug-in hybrid next year, the company will also continue working on the smaller Atlantic PHEV and a pure electric vehicle eventually, according to Bloomberg.
The Atlantic shares similar styling to the Karma and also uses an extended-range electric powertrain. First seen in prototype guise in 2012, the plan was to put it into production but Fisker filed for bankruptcy before it could do so.
