A tiny Californian car company, better known for re-skinning BMWs and Mercedes, has decided to put a plug-in hybrid luxury car on sale by the end of 2009. Fisker Automotive unveiled its new Karma at the Detroit show and have announced it will cost just $80,000 when it goes on sale in 2009. Fisker has ambitious plans to build a whopping 15,000 cars annually, though they don't say where the cars will be built. It uses the latest plug-in hybrid technology (developed by Quantum Technologies) which consists of a small petrol engine that drives a generator, which charges the lithium ion battery pack, powering the electric motor which turns the rear wheels. The engine need not be used at all, however, as there's enough energy in the batteries to drive 80km on pure electric power. Despite its green credentials, the Karma is no slouch - 0-100km/h should take less than 6 seconds and top speed will exceed 200km/h.
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