Henrik Fisker reinvents his Karma with new Ronin grand tourer

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It looks as if a large part of Henrik Fisker’s future is based in his past. For those that don’t remember, Fisker — and his eponymous company — were competitors with Tesla, back when the Models 3 and Y weren’t even a twinkle in Elon Musk’s eye. Since then, of course, one has gone on to be the most valuable car company on the planet, while the other went bust. Those needing more than one guess as to which is which oughtn’t be reading this website.

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Henrik Fisker reinvents his Karma with new Ronin grand tourer Back to video

Now, Fisker’s back, and after launching the new Ocean SUV — which he’s claimed has 40,000 reservations — as well as an econ-EV called the PEAR (Personal Electric Automotive Revolution) costing less than US$30,000, he’s also back to his old tricks.

And an old design, it would seem. For despite the murkiness of the one sketch being offered of Fisker’s new Ronin — yes, named after the car-chase movie — it’s obvious that it’s patterned after Fisker’s 2011 Karma. Oh, the mirrors are now digital and the lights LED, but the yards-long bonnet and radical fastback four-door design are very reminiscent of Henrik’s first attempt at a four-door luxury GT. Not that that’s a bad thing: What success the Karma did have was the result of its fetching design.

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Fisker is promising that there will be more to it this second time around. For instance, his brief to the engineering team was to “use the most advanced, lightweight materials and focus on range.” In fact, the company is promising the new Ronin will boast the longest range of any production EV yet — a big deal considering that Lucid’s Air claims an 837-kilometre EPA-certified range — crediting the innovative battery pack “built into the structure of the vehicle” as one of the light-weighting techniques that reduces weight and maximizes efficiency.

As to the exact machinations of how the Ronin will manage this extended range, no details are being provided; neither the horsepower of the electric motors nor the capacity of its battery were specified.

For that, we’ll have to wait until the Ronin’s August 2023 release date to see how Fisker does it. In the meantime, AutoExpress is also claiming the Ronin will start around US$200,000.