It isn’t often one of the biggest news items coming out of NAIAS 2013 is from a tuning house … especially a tuning house nobody has ever heard of before. Attach the name Bob Lutz to a car, along with a brand new, fire breathing, tire shredding 6.2L LT1 V8 from the new Corvette, you are bound to turn some heads. Oh, and they wedged it into a Fisker Karma.
That’s Maximum to the Bob.
The supposed soon-to-be production ready boutique supercar is called the VL Automotive Destino. While the fossil-fuel burning horsepower generator and its choice of automatic or manual transmissions is an addition, the rest is a story of subtraction. Gone is the weird polarizing Fisker Karma face for a more Ferrari-esque affair. Chuck out the batteries and their added risk of fiery death. Oh, and that EcoTec? That’ll just get in the way of its bigger brother.
Everything else is pretty much as it was when it left Finland.
Want one? They say toward the end of the year you’ll be able to buy one. The price? If you’re asking, chances are you won’t be able to buy one.
It doesn’t really matter how much this costs, or how unlikely I am to ever see one. I’m glad someone did it.
Yes, this. THAT is the way to rework a Fisker Karma.
I was just talking about switching the drive train on the Karma last month. It is such a beautiful car wasted by the wrong power, like a stunning woman having a huge schlong. With this new front, and great (probably} engine, Maserati should have grabbed it for the new Quattroporte.
” like a stunning woman having a huge schlong”…
I had to log in just to let you know that was the funniest thing I’ve read all day!
+1!
Best of both worlds?
As it should be! Beautiful car meets excellent drivetrain. The gods are smiling.
Brilliant! Well done Maximum Bob.
Fisker should offer it through their dealers and refer to it as the “Karma LTZ” (For LuTZ).
HYFR
Pretty Car. Ugly business plan.
Couple of points:
– I was under the impression this is powered by the 6.2 LS9 from the current ZR1… so 638hp
– Since the original car does without a driveshaft or any mechanical linkage between the gasoline engine and rear tires; how on earth did they engineer the car to accept the LS9 and all requisite drive components?
– This is now officially the best 4 door car money can by… best looking (was already so) with one of the best engines every produced…
– I doubt the suspension tuning will live up to the HP rating of this car….
There’s plenty of room for a driveshaft, since there used to be a huge battery exactly where the driveshaft would be on a conventional car.
Why the hell are they using a FOUR-SPEED AUTO in this? Somebody should tell Maximum Bob it’s 2013, not 1973.
Am I the only one who sees a similarity b/w the front end of this car and the C7 ?? Its eerily alike….
Yeah when I look at it I see a 4-door vette. Which is not a bad thing IMO.
If it’s called the Destino, then the engine should be called La Forza del Destino.
The Volt Fastback Edition got a real engine? Yawn.
Whoa, hold on here…let me get this straight: Leo DiCaprio’s boutique Finland-made eco-car ends up with a high-tech-redneck pushrod truck motor? And all basically exist at taxpayer expense? Indeed, it is a government program.
I don’t care for the seams on the fenders/hood in the front view. The original design is much more fluid in that respect. This one sorta looks like a body kit from another car.