Karma Gyesera, a very pretty dud firecracker

The Karma Gyesera is the heir to an exceptional car but born too early, the Fisker Karma. But where is its DNA?

Karma Automotive is a brand born from the bankruptcy of Fisker Automotive in 2013. It unveiled its first four-door super luxury electric GT at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.

The Karma Gyesera is equipped with an electric powertrain developing 590 horsepower. Karma claims that the 120.0 kWh battery will provide a range of 400 km and that deliveries are expected to begin in late 2024. The first figure is somewhat smile-inducing as it suggests an average consumption of 30 kWh / 100 km. That’s just enormous, unless it’s used solely for ultra-sporty driving. At least the Gyesera should have no trouble meeting this range and might even surprise us.

As for a late 2024 commercial launch, it’s a very optimistic forecast. Karma probably means that order taking will start at the end of the year with sales possibly beginning in 2026, according to market standards.

Proof of this, Karma revealed last autumn the elegant Kaveya, an electric coupe that will offer up to 1,000 horsepower and was expected by the end of 2025… Prototype models still aren’t rolling out, so the target won’t be met. The car manufacturer would do better to focus its efforts on the Gyesera, and perhaps it is doing so.

Beautiful and that’s all?

But is this Karma Gyesera really worthy of the Fisker Karma? The sedan retains much of the shape of the original Karma, built in 2011 and 2012. Even though this design dates back over a decade, the original Karma, designed by the brilliant Henrik Fisker, was a true rolling work of art, and the Gyesera is a very elegant evolution of this vision. However, it should be noted that the front end is heavily inspired by the Taycan and that the rear adopts stylistic elements from Ferrari. If you’re going to copy a little, might as well do it from the best students in the class.

The carbon fiber and aluminum bodywork is shaped around an aluminum space frame chassis. Despite this massive use of lightweight materials, the Gyesera still weighs 2,400 kg! Clearly, with such a battery, no miracles… and if it only does 400 km per charge, what’s the point? It’s really time to look into the weight of electric cars because this trend of increasing weight is a real problem.

The electric powertrain delivers a total of 590 horsepower, allowing the Gyesera to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.2 seconds and reach 220 km/h, according to Karma. That’s good but not outstanding, especially with a price hovering around $200,000! Not to be unpleasant, but a Tesla Model S all-wheel drive outperforms it on all counts at half the price! And we won’t even compare it to the Plaid version!

In short, a very beautiful car, or rather a very stylish concept that, unfortunately, feels a bit like a tomorrow full of disappointment.