Fisker Karma Price to Increase by Up to $10,000

By Eric Loveday · December 13, 2011

2012 Fisker Karma

Pricing for the 2012 Fisker Karma will soon be as high as $116,000.

After multiple production delays over a couple years, the Fisker Karma is finally arriving to dealerships. Apparently, Fisker Automotive believes this is a good time to jack up its price. According to Fox News, the California-based automaker will raise the figure on the price tag of its 2012 Fisker Karma by six percent starting on December 15.

The six-percent increase is unlikely to sway potential Karma buyers one way or the other, but this latest bit of news only adds to recent negative press for Fisker. The bad news has included reports of faulty components, controversy regarding government loans, and poor fuel efficiency numbers.

This price increase means that the base-level Fisker Karma, dubbed the EcoStandard, will be priced at $102,000 and the top-o-the-line EcoChic version will ring in at $116,000. According to the Fox report, the decision to increase prices will not impact those who have already put down a $5,000 deposit on a Fisker Karma. Deposit holders have until January 15 to finalize their order at the slightly lower price.

The upcoming price increase will not be the first for the Karma. In January 2011, Karma customers found out that price of the EcoStandard rose to $95,900, while the EcoSport and EcoChic versions jumped to $103,900 and $108,900 respectively. Fisker originally set a baseline price of $80,000 for the luxury plug-in hybrid.

About the author

Eric Loveday is an automotive enthusiast who is passionate about everything auto. He purchased a 1970 Chevelle at age 16, quickly outgrew its dated engineering and outrageous consumption of gasoline, and sold it off. Eric developed a true passion for automotive writing after graduating from the University of Michigan with a degree in print journalism. Eric spent most of his time since then ...

Full bio · 145 posts

Comments

· Londo Bell (not verified) · 22 weeks ago

I think that the price increase may have to do with poor sales. Yeah, that may sound strange, but I'm "guessing" that the sales target / profit won't be able to be reached under current pricing structure / sales target, thus, increasing price to cover that. Potential buyers, like Eric has suggested, won't be swayed because that's just chum change in their pocket, so on paper (for FK's accounting), it'll look "good" on the financial reports.

· Chris T. (not verified) · 22 weeks ago

It's worth noting that the original base price was actually 87500 or 87900 (I forget which) to get that "$80k after tax credit" price point. The tax credit still applies, so the new price point is still (theoretically) under 100k, except of course one has to add state tax, tags, fees, etc., all of which generally eat the entire Federal tax credit and more.

Another theory on the reason for the price increase is to get pre-order people to "s--t or get off the pot" as the saying goes. Original pre-orders required only a $1k deposit. Orders now require $5k up front. Presumably converting an original pre-order to a "firm" order requires forking over $4k (which doesn't mean that much in the end, but every little bit helps), and failing to convert allows them to deliver the car to someone who did.

· Anonymous (not verified) · 22 weeks ago

First world problems :P

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