Indeed, Karma is a bitch.
DETROIT (MSNBC) -- Remember when heartthrob Justin Bieber received a Fisker Karma luxury hybrid for his 18th birthday earlier this month on the Ellen DeGeneres Show? Well, he may be driving a lemon.
A $100,000-plus Fisker sports car died during Consumer Reports speed testing this week for reasons that are still unknown, leaving the struggling electric car startup with another blow to its image.
"It is a little disconcerting that you pay that amount of money for a car and it lasts basically 180 miles before going wrong," David Champion, senior director for the magazine's automotive test center, told Reuters, on Thursday.
In a statement, Fisker said it was assessing the source of the problem that caused its Karma plug-in hybrid to fail. Fisker dispatched two engineers Wednesday night to examine the car.
Fisker has benefited from the publicity generated when actor Leonardo DiCaprio was handed the first Karma last summer and Bieber received his as a gift earlier this month.
But the breakdown of the Consumer Reports car is more bad news for a company that has found itself under the microscope as its woes have mounted.
Over the last month, Fisker changed its chief executive and halted work at its U.S. plant as it renegotiates the terms of a $529 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Fisker has already recalled some Karmas and in January it halted Karma sales for four days to fix a software malfunction that at times triggered warning lights while temporarily freezing navigation systems.
"It's important to note that with more than 400 Fisker Karma sedans already on the road in the U.S., we also have many satisfied customers who are enjoying daily commutes in their cars," Fisker said in a statement.
Consumer Reports, which buys the cars its tests anonymously, purchased the car from a Connecticut dealer last Friday.
On Wednesday, Consumer Reports engineers were just starting to calibrate the Karma's speed by driving 65 miles per hour down the magazine's test track in East Haddam, Connecticut, Champion said.
"During the gentle run down the track, a light on the dashboard came on," he said, referring to the battery light.
The speed test was completed despite the light on the control panel, but after it was parked, officials were unable to get the car restarted. A spokesman for A123 Systems, which makes the Karma batteries, could not be reached.
Champion, who called the Karma "gorgeous looking," said problems with new technologies are not surprising.
In December, Fisker recalled 239 Karmas due to a possible defect in batteries made by A123 that could cause a coolant fluid leak and electrical short circuit.
The previous month, A123 reduced its full-year revenue outlook after Fisker unexpectedly cut orders.
Fisker builds the Karma in Finland and plans to build a second model, the Nina sedan, at its Wilmington, Delaware plant, a former General Motors Co factory.
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I can't imagine the reasoning behind giving half a billion US tax dollars to a company that makes $100,000 electric sports cars that don't work... and are made outside the US with foreign workers.
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