It's show time for the maker of the Karma hybrid, as Fisker officially presented its new Atlantic mid-size sports sedan at a special event on Tuesday night in advance of the car's world premiere at the New York Auto Show on Wednesday, April 4.
Revealed here as a design prototype, the Atlantic will be Fisker's first mainstream and mass produced vehicle. The company said the car is aimed at young families who want to drive "an impactful, high-end vehicle while making a positive statement about responsibilities".
The California-based automaker declined to get into specific details, but it is believed that the Atlantic will start from under $50,000, not including any federal green tax credits, which could reduce the price to a little over $40,000, or less than half the cost of the Karma.
Just like the Karma sedan, the Atlantic is a plug-in series hybrid that allows the driver to switch manually or automatically between electric and gasoline driving modes and sustain the charge of its lithium ion batteries on the move.
But whereas the Karma uses a GM-sourced 2.0-liter turbocharged gasoline engine, the Atlantic will be Fisker's first model to utilize a 2.0-liter turbo'd four-cylinder gasoline unit from BMW.
The standard powertrain will be configured for rear-wheel drive, but Fisker will offer an all-wheel drive version as an option.
The exterior styling of the Atlantic incorporates the design DNA of the Karma in a more compact, fastback package with hidden rear door handles and a large glass roof. The company hasn't revealed the car's exterior dimensions yet, but said that the Atlantic is comparable in size to the Audi A5 Sportback.
“We are exceptionally proud of the Atlantic design prototype, and believe we have created another groundbreaking car that looks and will drive like nothing else on the road in this class,” commented Henrik Fisker, co-founder, Executive Chairman, and Design Director of Fisker.
The Atlantic will be built at a former GM factory in Delaware. Even though work at the plant recently came to a halt as the U.S. Department of Energy blocked a loan to the automaker, Henrik Fisker told CNN today that his company secured about $400 million in private equity financing that would allow it to get the factory ready for the production of the Atlantic.
Fisker said that it will release more details on the Atlantic, including prices and an on-sale date, closer to the launch of the production car.
11 Comments:
I don't think Audi has anything to worry about.
Looks quite nice. If only they would bring this to Europe at that $50k price it would be a hit...
I hate hybrids highly unpractical too expensive for saving a hand full of mpg and ppl drive like crap to save some gas. I like the Atlantic and would buy one today if it fell within sub volt territory pricing seeing how gas engine is range extender. So how is it the volt is so cheaply made compared to the atlantic for roughly the same coin or do the pic above deceive me? Hope Fisker fairs better we'll see not that into the hype but fact so I guess time will tell. Really wish they had diesel engines save even more gas run smaller engine low rpm with higher torque after all most generators are diesel. I still wonder why they put big engines in hybrids just to run generators? Why not 1 liter or similar engines. Leaf guys have hand held Honda generators in case they get stuck their version of spare tire in the trunk.
Fisker designs are very unique, a very elusive trait when it comes to Audi..
Very good looking car ;)
Nice design! Less than half the price of a Karma - wow. Like Tesla relied on the Roadster for initial lift, Fisker must have done the same with the Karma. Concerns for the Atlantic include overall reliability considering the Consumer Reports major test snafu with the Karma and lack of a diesel offering. In my region, diesel is now selling for less than regular gas and of course is far more efficient by offering greater mileage benefits. Charging stations have also been very slow rolling out nationally. I want to embrace this new technology however after reading the Wired article on "bricking" your electric car due to lack of charge and the $40K tab to replace the Tesla battery (http://www.wired.com/autopia/2012/02/bricked-tesla-roadsters/ ) I'm cautious. Fisker may have a preventative fail-safe in place for this type of issue. Both brands offer beautiful cars however unfortunately first adopters both enjoy all the benefits & endure all of the pitfalls until the kinks are worked out.
A beautiful car with very questionable reliability.
Amazing design. Such a sexy car. Hopefully with the lower price point I will be able to actually see some of these on the road. It looks a lot smaller than the Karma, so it will be interesting to see its performance numbers with the BMW turbo engine. I am glad they are switching to the BMW engine as this car needs an engine with the respect that BMW engines have. I think people have a hard time justifying spending $100k on a car with a GM 4 cylinder engine as is the case with the Karma. Not that the Gm engine is bad or the reason for the bad press the car has received lately. The BMW engine just has more prestige with luxury car buyers. As a designer, the Fisker design language is very much my type of style and along the same direction I would go in designing sports sedans. His details can get a little over bearing with all of the crisscrossing and intersecting lines in the front bumpers of both the Atlantic and the Karma, but the overall sleek shape is just seductive.
How about you go to school and learn grammar?
Looks great, has the lines of an Italian, combined with practical ethos of a Japanese car. That roof glass is beautiful
Looks like a boss-eyed derp fish with a mustache. Roof and interior is pretty cool though.
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