MotorWeek Gives The Plug-In Hybrid Karma GS-6 A Positive Review

The shape may be old and the vehicle may not be fully-electric, but does that make it a bad car?

By: Andrei Nedelea

Apr 21, 2021 at 8:28am ET

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If you liked the look but not the execution of the Fisker Karma, then you may be interested to know that Karma Automotive has brought it back under the GS-6 nameplate. It’s mostly the same car, at least from a design standpoint, because Karma says it has improved it in a number of significant ways.

The design has been slightly tweaked, while the interior has been given a more thorough makeover. According to MotorWeek, the level of fit and finish inside is actually pretty good - this needed to be improved, because the original Fisker Karma’s interior was a mixed bag that desperately needed some changes.

Karma does plan to launch a GSe-6 fully-electric version of the vehicle, but until that arrives, the GS-6 plug-in the only model available. It is a range extender that relies on a 1.5-liter three-cylinder turbo engine as the generator and has two individual electric motors driving the rear wheels - this reportedly gives it the power to do torque vectoring, but the car was not driven quickly enough in this review to observe it in action.

What do you think?

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MotorWeek calls the GS-6 a stunning car that turns heads, even though it’s simply a stepping stone model for Karma Automotive in its quest to sell only electric vehicles. The big question seems to be: is it better than the original Fisker model? Well, based on information presented in this video, it would appear so, but we’ll reserve judgment until we get our hands on one to properly test.

The Karma GS-6 has a power output of 536 horsepower and 550 pound-feet of torque and it sprints to sixty in 4.5 seconds in Standard and Luxury trims, while if you opt for the GS-6 Sport, that drops to 3.9 seconds. The BMW-sourced turbo three-pot charges a 28 kWh battery pack that in ideal conditions should give the vehicle a range of around 80 miles; fast charging the vehicle can bring the state of charge up to 90 percent in 34 minutes.