Partying while the house burns down? The 2009 Detroit Auto Show, round 2

Ever heard of Fisker before?



I really don't blame you if you hadn't. They're brand new, a collaboration between Fisker's design studio and Quantum Technologies, which designs alternative energy systems. Their main product is the Fisker Karma hybrid sedan, and the Fisker Karma S "Sunset" convertible.

It looks good, in my opinion. And it's unique in how it operates - it uses a gas motor (the delicious GM Ecotec 2.0L supercharged engine) ONLY to charge the batteries. The engine is not directly connected to the wheels. It relies on a powerful electric motor to actually move the car. This is called a series hybrid. Diesel-electric locomotives have used this for a long time. It lets you maximize the gas or diesel motor for efficiency rather than forcing it to operate over a wide range of conditions (i.e., changing the engine RPMs a bunch as in normal driving).

So it has style, practicality (it seats 4), a pretty efficient powertrain, and it's not vaporware. Henrik Fisker seems to run a tight ship, winning the lawsuit with Tesla that I mentioned in an earlier post, and avoiding a lot of the negative publicity that Tesla got.

Will it succeed? It's going to be a lot more expensive than the Volt, but maybe it'll be Hollywood's new fashion accessory. It's a lot more stylish than the Prius!

Partying while the house burns down? The 2009 Detroit Auto Show

Despite all the negative attention that Detroit has gotten in recent months, most automakers (with the notable exception of Nissan) have gathered at the Cabo Center to show off their latest wares. Most auto sites are offering complete and detailed coverage (see New York Times, Jalopnik, Autoblog) and I won’t replicate that here. I did want to cover a few of the notable 2009 concepts and new cars.



I think the most interesting concept at Detroit is the new VW Bluesport roadster. The big news is that it’s a convertible sportscar with a DIESEL powerplant that promises to deliver 42 MPG (European mileage testing) and have decent performance. Sixty miles per hour is said to come in 6.2 seconds, which is pretty respectable for a sportscar with such an unconventional engine. That breaks down all sorts of conventions. I mean, I think the only comparable car made before this is the Audi TT diesel (which is very similar to this from an engineering standpoint).



The other interesting tidbit, from my perspective, is the new Honda Insight hybrid. It has the same name as the old, tiny two-seater that never quite caught on, but it’s grown to become pretty close in size and shape to the Toyota Prius. It actually looks shockingly familiar, copying the basic profile almost perfectly, but I think it’s forgivable because it’s a pretty good car all things considered. It will undercut the Prius by a couple thousand dollars, and gets close to its MPG. (Will the 43 MPG estimated rating be justified by the lower price, compared to the 50 MPG Prius? Good question. We’ll see.) It should be $18,500 MSRP.

So you might notice something here. The new Insight hybrid should get 43 MPG, and the Bluesport concept gets approximately 42 MPG (probably 40 MPG for US ratings). But the Bluesport isn’t a hybrid, it’s just a diesel! Another chapter in the never-ending (but very interesting) diesel-hybrid debate unfolds …

More commentary on Detroit to come. Stay tuned!