CHICAGO Auto show RECAP
SECTION E Tuesday, February 19, 2013 • Northwest Herald
Auto show promotes sales for area dealers CHICAGO – Facing the back wall of McCormick Place North, a Fisker Karma Eco Sport is parked inside a roped-off area. It was the only Fisker product at the 2013 Chicago Auto Show. With more than 1.1 million square feet of display area for the show inside the adjoining North and South halls of McCormick Place, the electric hybrid, one-speed transmission Karma took up only the measurement of a large sedan. In this case, a sedan that is an inch wider than six feet and a length of 16 feet. A visitor to the 105th edition of the auto show had to search for this Karma, which happened to be an Eco Sport model. It was in a corral sharing space with other pricey luxury vehicles. The priciest of those vehicles included a $347,315 Rolls-Royce Ghost, a $497,285 Rolls Phantom drophead coupe, a $227,125 Bentley Continental convertible, a $325,000 Aston Martin DBRS9, a $150,745 Maserati Gran Turismo and a $237,324 Ferrari California 30. Most of those exotic luxury toys behind the ropes of the corral faced the show floor. The Karma Eco Sport faced the wall and that may have been due to its price tag. Henrik Fisker, the executive chairman of Fisker Automotive was asking only $116,000 for it. Fisker is fascinating for several reasons. First, Fisker co-founded a unique company. It is a company that produces an electric-hybrid car designed not for the mass market, but for the luxury class of buyers. Second, the company is in financial trouble. Its days may be numbered and the opportunity for the public to have seen a Fisker product may have ended with the closing of the auto show yesterday. But there is the local dealer’s sales lot and Fisker has one to visit. The handful of North American dealers includes Fisker of North Shore in Northfield. The dealership serves a potential clientele from Chicago as well as North Shore suburbs such as Evanston, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Wilmette, Lake Forest and Glencoe. Fisker dealerships are not the only ones looking for visitors. Dealers representing a more mass market clientele also would ap-
REVIEWS Jerry Kuyper preciate a visit. These are the 400-plus members of the Chicago Automotive Trade Association, sponsors of the show. With the closing of the auto show, where more than 1,000 vehicles were on display, the sponsors hope their $5 million investment this year paid off. The payoff comes in increased traffic at Chicago-area dealerships and the days ahead will tell. “We get reports that after the show ends the dealers are so busy they cannot keep up with customers coming into their dealerships,” CATA president David Sloan said. “The dealers see a substantial uptick in potential customers to their dealerships and a big increase in sales.” Prior to the public opening of the auto show, Fisker spoke to an audience of 500 at a Feb. 7 luncheon sponsored by the Economic Club of Chicago in the fourth floor Vista room of McCormick Place South. The ECC annually invites automotive industry leaders to speak before the show opens its public doors. At the luncheon, Fisker did not once mention his company’s troubled finances. Instead, in a 30-minute talk and slide presentation, he outlined the virtues of his company’s products, specifically the Karma. The virtues are economy, environmental and social. “There are a lot of people out there who are environmentally conscious and who want a luxury car. We give them that,” he said. On that list of Karma buyers are actor and film producer Leo DiCaprio, who also is a Fisker investor, the Prince of Denmark, the Prince of the Netherlands, Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber and at least one oil sheik from Saudi Arabia. The Netherlands is a good market for Fisker as his vehicles are exempt from environmental or luxury taxes. The lithium ion battery-hybrid plug-in Karma can go weeks or months powered by two electric motors driving the rear wheels. Although there is a 9.5-gallon fuel tank,
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A GMC Terrain was on display at the 2013 Chicago Auto Show. the four-cylinder gasoline engine does not drive the wheels. It is there to recharge the battery pack. In this it differs from the gasoline-electric Chevrolet Volt. The Volt’s gasoline engine kicks in automatically after a certain speed is reached to drive the front wheels. “The gasoline engine is not connected to any wheel in our vehicles,” Fisker said. “The Karma can go the first 40 or 50 miles before it has to be recharged and that is done by the gasoline engine, which acts as a generator. In fact, you might never have to plug (the Karma) in.” Since there are no planetary gears, the 5,600-pound Karma Sport can accelerate from 0 to 125 miles per hour in a seamless 6.7 seconds. Interior trim includes wood from California wildfires or ship disasters on Lake Michigan, recycled faux suede, and eco-friendly recylable upholstery. The entire roof is a solar panel, which can act as a source of electricity for the car. On the exterior, Fisker’s designs differ from other luxury nameplates. He put three luxury models, including a Mercedes-Benz, on the video screen. All wore flat body panels with little side, hood or rear deck differentiation between the three. “They look alike. It is hard to tell them apart,” he said. Then he put a Karma on the screen. It wore flow-
ing indentations front to rear. “We gave it a sculptured look,” he said. “Our cars are different ... a new brand, a new design, a new technology.” Fisker emphasized there was a place in the automotive world for a niche company such as his. When questioned, he refused to disclose how many vehicles his company had to sell annually to become economically viable. He did say that China could become a big market. “In Shanghai, the motorcyles have gone from gasoline to electric,” Fisker noted. The change came almost overnight, he added. Cars might be next. To reduce reliance on oil-based gasoline or diesel, electric vehicles are a wise option for people and countries, he said. Even so, most of the 1,000 vehicles on display at the Chicago show were of the gasoline or diesel variety. Sharing floor space in the North wing were Chevrolet, GMC, Buick and Hyundai as well as more expensive nameplates such as Cadillac, Lexus, Acura, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Infiniti and Volvo. In the South hall were Ford, Toyota, Honda, Ram, Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Nissan, Mini, Volkswagen, Kia, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Scion, Subaru and Kia. Most manufacturers offer hybrids
and electrics, but their bread and butter are the vehicles that run on fossil fuels and that can be natural gas as well as oil-based propulsion systems. Take the Ram ProMaster commercial CNG van. “It is the only CNG truck in North America,” bragged Fred Diaz, president and chief executive officer of Ram truck brand as he introduced the 2014 commercial vehicles at press days prior to the show’s opening. The manufacturer assembles compressed natural gas pickup trucks, which are powered by a 5.7-liter V8 engine, at a plant in Saltillo, Mexico. The commercial vans, which have 750 dealers in the United States, are based on the Fiat Ducato small commercial van. Fiat and Ram are under the Chrysler Group umbrella. The 2014 Ram vans get power from a 3-liter gasoline, 280-horsepower Pentastar V6 or an optional 3-liter, four-cylinder 174-horsepower diesel engine mated to a six-speed automatic transmission. Wheelbases measure 118, 136 and 159 inches. The Ram ProMaster van also will be built in Saltillo. Diaz said the cargo vans come in 13 trim levels and are front-wheeldrive. “We are the only ones who offer a full-size van with front-wheeldrive,” he said.
See AUTO, page E7