As used car deals go, this is one to make you think twice. Used Fisker Karmas, which sold for $103,000 just a year ago as new models, are now being sold for roughly half price. In some cases, those trying to sell the luxury extended-range electric car on eBay cannot even get bids above $50,000.
Just ask Bill Michlin, a dealer with the Fields Auto Group in the Chicago suburb of Glencoe. He just wrapped up an eBay auction for a 2012 EcoChic version of the Karma with a top bid of $45,100. "I had 2,000 look at that car on eBay," he said. "We didn't sell it because it didn't meet the minimum reserve bid, but it will eventually."
Used Fiskers selling for 50 cents on the dollar is the latest example of how far the electric car company has fallen over the last four years. A company once touted as an example of how start-up automakers were changing the auto industry now owes the federal government $192 million and is no longer building new models.
The New DeLorean?
Thirty years after the DeLorean came to symbolize a futuristic car that failed to take off in huge numbers, the Fisker Karma is now viewed in a similar light. Approximately 2,500 Karmas were built in 2011 and 2012. But the Karma never became more than a niche luxury model. The electric car was rated by the EPA to get the equivalent of 52 mpg and was panned by Consumer Reports after the Karma model it was testing actually broke down.