High-end Karma plug-in hybrid speeds into focus

Tesla Motors receives much of the publicity surrounding the design of high end electric cars, but a year old competitor, Fisker Automotive, says it is on course to being selling its $90,000 (£58,500) Karma plug-in hybrid next year.

There is no love lost between the two companies, and recently Fisker won an arbitration hearing that Tesla brought claiming the company stole design secrets. Tesla disagreed with the ruling, which however, is binding.

Now Fisker has announced it has leased premises just outside Detroit, America's automotive capital, and plans to hire 200 local workers, many of whom are probably suffering as a result of lay offs and slow downs at the Big Three, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.

Those engineers will be putting the final interior touches to the plug-in hybrid Karma, which is being built mainly in Finland and will have a top speed of 125mph and can go from 0-60 in less than six seconds.

The car also boasts a plug-in hybrid engine, which the company claims will allow drivers to travel up to 50 miles emission-free using solely the battery before the gasoline engine kicks in.

The announcement came on top of recent news that Fisker has raised a further $65 million in venture capital investment to fund its expansion drive. The round was led by a new investor, an affiliate of Qatar Investment Authority. Existing investors Palo Alto Investors and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers also participated.

Tesla, which because of a combination of high profile customers, delays, layoffs, management upheaval and reports of cash problems, is much more in the media eye than Fisker, has also recently raised $40m.

The Fisker Karma is designed by Henrik Fisker, who also created the BMW Z8, Aston Martin DB9 & V8 Vantage and recently the Tramonto and Latigo CS, designed under the Fisker Coachbuild nameplate.

Fisker Automotive is a joint venture with Quantum Fuel Systems, which has developed the hybrid architecture. Quantum recently said that it had shipped a new generation of hybrid electric vehicles incorporating hydrogen internal combustion engines to the US Army Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC).

Quantum is also a part-owner of German solar company, Asola, which is developing a solar "sun roof" for the Karma, which will help charge the car's battery and keep it cool while it is parked.

The company claims that if all goes to plan the Karma will be demonstrated at the Detroit Auto Show in January and go on sale in the fourth quarter of next year.