Friday, April 16, 2010

Fisker Hits Heartland with Karma Plug-in Hybrid Tour

Fisker Karma

Fisker Karma.

The Fisker Karma might be the only plug-in hybrid available in smaller cities in the heartland for some time.

Next week, Fisker will kick off a whistle-stop North American tour of the Fisker Karma $87,000 plug-in hybrid sports car. Unlike the electric-drive competition, Fisker is hitting uncharted EV markets, such as Plano, Tex., Huntsville, Ala., Neena, Wis., and Centerville, Utah.

"Our market research shows Karma buyers represent all walks of life, and transcend traditional demographic profiles," Marti Eulberg, Fisker vice-president, global sales and marketing, told HybridCars.com. "We expect our best North American markets to be mainly throughout the smile belt�from the Northwest, down the coast across Texas and Florida, and up the East Coast."

Fisker's view of geography�specifically its embrace of the South�is a break from the most common view about electric car adoption mostly on the coasts. Observers commonly point to hybrid ownership as the best proxy for EV adoption. The regional pattern of hybrid ownership in the past 10 years has favorably titled toward major coastal cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, DC, and New York. Many analysts forecast much stronger electric car sales in dense urban centers, than in sprawling suburbs and truck country.

Yet, the early part of Fisker�"s tour will bring the 400-horsepower plug-in hybrid�with about 50 miles of all-electric range�to five cities in Texas before it swings to Tulsa, Huntsville, Tampa Bay and an Atlanta-based Cadillac dealership.

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Read More... [Source: HybridCars.com]

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