Count Pixar chief creative officer John Lasseter among the people waiting in line for the Fisker Karma, a gasoline-electric hybrid car that accelerates like a sports car and can travel 50 miles on battery power alone.
The Irvine, Calif., carmaker says Lasseter, a well-known car enthusiast who directed “Toy Story,” “A Bug’s Life” and of course, “Cars,” is among many Hollywood notables who have ordered the car. Lasseter declined to comment. The company, which also released a photo of U2’s Bono checking out the car, says it has orders for about 1,600 Karmas. The deposit is $5,000 for the coupe, which has solar panels in its roof to help charge the batteries, and $25,000 for the convertible.
The Karma is the signature design of Henrik Fisker, who worked for BMW and Aston Martin before striking out on his own in 2005. People who follow car design are quick to point out similarities in ”design language” between the Karma and earlier cars he worked on like the BMW Z8 and Aston Martin DB9. With just over 400 horsepower under the hood, the Karma even has about as much muscle as those speedy sports cars. From a practical point of view, though, it has more in common with the Toyota Prius or the Chevrolet Volt, which also use a combination of batteries and gasoline engines for power.
The base model of the Karma costs $87,900. The top-of-the-line EcoChic version has an animal-free interior including upholstery made from bamboo instead of the luxury-car cliche, leather.
The carmaker plans to begin delivering the karma late this year and reach full production of about 15,00 cars a month by early 2011.
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