Beleagured electric carmaker Fisker is now under Chinese leadership, having been bought by the Wanxiang group last year. And now, the leadership that be has decided to rename it to “Elux.” Which is not a very good progression, if we are to be honest.
The renaming might be because Fisker’s new owners want to distance itself from the bankrupt automaker, or because the car’s designer/namesake doesn’t want his name associated with its reboot. Or it could be both.
Wanxiang is also delaying the launch of the long-in-the-works refresh of the Karma that Fisker stopped building in late 2012. They initially promised to restart production this year, but it seems like the Chinese want to spend some more time upgrading the electric powertrain and revising the styling. Despite that, we hear from a pretty reliable source that the new Karma will look a lot like the old one. Other details about the new Karma remain undecided, like where it will be built – the Valmet factory in Finland where the Fisker Karma was made will not be used this time around. Now we are looking at a mid-2016 timeframe for the Karma’s second outing, and a price hike to the tune of roughly $25,000 to $135,000.
That will put the new Karma bang against the top-level dual-motor Tesla, which is probably what they’re going for.
An anonymous commenter on Jalopnik put it best:
“We need a name that conjures up electricity, or electronics. You know, an e-name.”
“Yes, but we also need a name that evokes luxury.”
“What about……. e……..[sweat pours profusely from forehead]…………lux?”
“Genius.”
That’s probably how it went down.
Source: Jalopnik