here now
Still buzzing
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with the Editor Publisher
ach week I separate the plastics from my trash and put them Celebrity drivers – Leonardo DiCaprio, Ashton Kutcher and into a blue recycling bin. I drop the week’s newspapers into a Justin Bieber, among others – have given the Fisker Karma some green bin, and place it by the curb, too. I keep the thermostat on buzz over the past year. “Leonardo was an early investor,” Fisker 78 in summer, 68 in winter; I share a ride whenever I can... says, and the star is using the car in an upcoming movie, Runner, Being eco-friendly has never been particularly fun. Runner, now filming in Puerto Rico. Not that I’m looking for it, but it has never gotten me much But beyond the celebrity sizzle, Fisker says he thinks we’re attention, either – let alone turned a head or rated a thumbs up. all looking for ways to live healthier, to be part of a solution to That is, not until I slipped behind the wheel of a Fisker Karma environmental challenges, and to do good. But we also want to EcoSport and drove into South Florida traffic. (“Green with look good doing it. Envy,” pg. 30). The Fisker Karma does look good, from the solar cell on On my test drive of “The World’s First Electric High top (which powers the air conditioning) to the Circuit Blade Performance Luxury Vehicle,” I averaged 409 miles per aluminum wheels below; from the grill with a Cheshire-cat grin gallon. I did not pollute the air or contribute to our nation’s in front to a trunk-lid mounted rear-view camera worthy of Q in dependence on foreign oil sources or cloud the atmosphere back. If you’re looking for a present this holiday season among with carbon emissions. our suggestions for gift giving throughout this issue, you could I also turned heads, got thumbs up – and had fun. earn points – and $7,500 in Federal Tax Credit – tying one up That’s not something I generally associate with being with a green bow for the stylish environmentalist on your list. environmentally conscious. I’ve always thought driving a hybrid Seeing it – and driving it – actually filled me with hope meant driving a car that looked more like a toaster oven than for the future. That we’re smart people, that we’ll be able to an Aston Martin DB9 or a BMW Z8. That I’d look more like figure out our current challenges, and that we’ll look good Begley than Bond. doing it, too. “A car is about freedom,” says Henrik Fisker, Executive “What we’re trying to do is fit into that lifestyle,” Fisker says. Chairman of Fisker Automotive Inc., whose resume includes “[That you’re] indulging yourself but also thinking about others designing the Aston Martin DB9 and BMW Z8. “It should take at the same time.” you as far as you want to go in it.” A car should take you as far as you want to go, he’d said. I talked with Fisker last month while he was in town visiting If it takes us to a more caring, environmentally conscious and Karma owners. The hybrid plug-in/gasoline super cars have stylish place, that would be far enough. been for sale for a year now, and there are already about 200 —Mark Gauert on the road in South Florida, says Robert Manrique, General mgauert@cityandshore.com Manager of Fisker Miami.
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