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Karma Automotive Plans To Enter Electric Pickup Market, Puts Tesla And Rivian On Notice

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The electric pickup truck segment is a relatively new frontier for many car companies. While the battle lines have been drawn between the Rivian R1T and Tesla’s controversial Cybertruck, a third combatant aims to shake up the scene, and perhaps pull a clutch play.

In an announcement released earlier today, Karma Automotive has revealed that they plan to enter the EV pickup wars as well. For those unfamiliar with the company, the Chinese based firm was born from the ruins of the original Fisker automotive company, and currently produces the Revero a highly revamped version of the old Karma sedan. Karma has indicated that it will have a gameplan that is very similar to Rivian’s with the company building a pickup and an SUV on the same platform.

The currently unnamed model is expected to make its debut as a concept before the end of the year according to a report from Bloomberg. It will be interesting to see how accurate of a preview the concept will be for the production version, though don’t be shocked if it embraces wild design elements over conventional cues.

 

Karma’s chief operations officer Kevin Pavlov appeared to double down on Karma’s plans with the exec telling the publication that the models will be avalible with all-wheel drive which is a crucial feature that is practically mandatory in a pickup truck. The key question here is whether Karma can maintain the resources needed to launch full scale mass production? An advantage for Karma is that they are not starting from scratch, with the firm already building the $135,000 Revero sedan. But saying that the Revero is mass produced is like comparing bread crumbs to an entire loaf of bread, with the company only selling roughly 1,000 cars in 2019.

The truck is expected to cost less than yhe Revero, but considering the wide disparity in price between the two, its tough to say whether it will still be in the $100,000 barrier, or if it is far below that figure. However, Bloomberg suggests that the model will be on the high end of the spectrum, so expect a near luxury price tag for its charms.

The real test for Karma will be over the next few years when it will have to face off against some pretty potent rivals. In addition to Rivian and Tesla, GM and Ford are also entering the fray, while Lordstown Motors is looking to beat Karma to the punch with its own efforts at shocking the system in this young segment.

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