Klatt clearly invested a lot of time developing the Fisker brand into a company that is far greater than the sum of its parts. So what does he think of Lutz’s VL Destino?
“[Laughs] You know Bob Lutz, he is an automotive veteran, and he loves beautiful cars, powerful cars… We were in contact with him while he was still at GM. I think he loved what we were doing and he supported us a lot with the GM engine at the time, the Ecotec engines. He was very open, very big supporter of what we were doing,” he says. “I think that he personally just loves Corvettes and Corvette engines, and he just dreams of having this combined, as well available for customers. Certain people are dreaming about having a high performance output Corvette engine in our vehicle.”
As Lutz has proven, this can be achieved with only minor alterations. The Karma’s body and chassis was developed to be lightweight from the outset, while its rear-wheel drive layout provides the perfect shell in which to retrofit the ZR-1 drivetrain.
“On one side I understand what he’s doing. It’s that old school car guy type of mentality, and I get it. As a car aficionado and enthusiast I get it. From a performance perspective [the Karma is] a good base for a supercar,” he notes. “And having an American four-seater luxury supercar – which is not in existence — he takes that approach to a white spot in the market. He might be quite successful with it.”
“An American four-seater luxury supercar is not in existence — he takes that approach to a white spot in the market”
But it’s also obvious that Klatt is torn. Though he appreciates Lutz’s “entrepreneurial spirit” he’s also disappointed that the brand values he fought so hard to establish could be cast aside.
“The car propulsion system has a bigger meaning with what we developed,” he says. “I believe that the success of the Karma should still more be on a problem solution than just to add another supercar to the set of supercars that exist today. That was always our dream to find a real solution for supercars in the future, where the carbon footprint will be regulated more and more.
“Our goal was to have a sustainable solution for supercars, for beautiful cars in the future. That’s why I believe more in the holistic concept of the Karma than what Bob Lutz is doing right now. I’m just so involved with the holistic spirit of the product and our brand that it’s almost a little bit of a pain to see that happen. I hope that the image of our car is not getting diluted or understood wrongly.”
Only time will tell.
