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Fisker name dropped in favor of Elux, Karma relaunch pushed back

Fisker is dead, long live Fisker. The luxury plug-in hybrid brand's new owner, Wanxiang, says that it is going to get rid of the name when it relaunches the Karma next year. Oh yeah, and the relaunch is now happening in 2016, not early 2015, as previously planned. According to unnamed "sources familiar with the plan" who spoke to Reuters, Wanxiang is going to change the brand from Fisker to Elux. So, if you've been waiting for news on a revived Fisker Karma, you should change your news alerts setting to ping you when there's new information on the Elux karma. Other details about the new Karma remain undecided, like where it will be built – the Valmet factory in Finland where the Fisker Karma was made will not be used this time around. According to the new Reuters report, though, the new Karma will get a 20-percent price increase, to $135,000. We've also heard that the new car will look a lot like the first Karma, which was designed by Henrik Fisker, who gave the now-bankrupt company its name. Related Video:

Fisker brings new Ronin, Alaska, Pear, and Ocean Force E to 'Product Vision Day'

With the Fisker Ocean reaching customers and a so-far successful first wave of media drives, company CEO Henrik Fisker took the stage in Huntington Beach, California last night to go over the products that are part of Fisker, Inc's second chapter. These are the Pear city car, which Fisker expects to be the company's best-seller; the Ronin four-door convertible flagship, produced in limited numbers; the Alaska pickup, built on an extended version of the Ocean's platform; and the Force E off-road package for the Ocean, available as a factory option or a dealer-installed kit after purchase. The CTO was also there to discuss the new Blade processing platform that will make all of the company's in-car tech dreams come true and debut with the Pear. We'll start with the Pear. It's built on a new SLV1 platform, an acronym Fisker said stood for "simple, versatile, and volume." We're not sure what the L is for, perhaps light, based on the claim the Pear uses 35% fewer parts than an equivalent city car. Engineers achieved this with measures like producing a single symmetrical armrest piece that fits all four doors. Parked on stage next to an Ocean, the Pear is clearly smaller, but it doesn't look at all small. We'll need to see it in the open with other objects for reference to understand the sizing. There were neat design elements like the giant windshield, the concave hatch glass attached at the top to the spoiler, a flash glass panel arcing over the roof at the rear three-quarter, and a taillight that formed an oval around the backlight. The hero car also had a roof full of solar panels.  The way the CEO talked about Pear features, the target audience of urban dwellers moves in packs that need places to store lots of stuff and maybe sleep. "Everything in the dash is about storage," he said, revealing an instrument panel with a central screen surrounded by recesses, some of the recesses topped by rubber straps that secure goods. He didn't demonstrate the front trunk, which he called the front boot in UK English, then shortened to "froot." He did demonstrate the Houdini trunk. When an owner wants to load the rear bay, the hatch glass disappears into the lower metal portion of the hatch, then that lower potion slides down into the bumper. A neat piece that doesn't need room in a tight parking spot, takes a lot longer than opening a hatch, though.

Fisker could be renamed when production restarts in 2015

The Orange County Register has an update on Wanxiang's plans for Fisker, and it starts with the idea that you would see brand new Karmas back on the road in mid-2015. From there the goals get less certain, the OCR saying the Surf station wagon "could ship in 2016" and the mid-priced Atlantic "might come in 2017." The targets came from an interview with interim CEO Roger Brown as he laid out how fluid the present situation is. The primary certainty, according to Brown, is that new owner Wanxiang is determined to execute on its vision and "build a great car company." The puzzle pieces that make that picture are still being assembled – even the name of the post-bankruptcy company, Fisker Automotive for now, is being debated. No matter what the name will be, Wanxiang and Brown need to establish the blood and bones of a company that can provide what the original Fisker Automotive didn't. Brown said they're looking for a permanent CEO over the next three months, they need to settle on a location for headquarters and increase the staff from the current 25 to the 200 or so necessary to engineering a fully fleshed-out Karma and successive products, and figure out where cars are going to be built. Concerning workers, Brown revealed that, "We've been flooded with people that want to come back." As for manufacturing in the Delaware plant that Fisker Automotive still controls or somewhere else, we've heard there are even odds on US production, but the final answer will probably be delivered by the new CEO.