The new Karma electric Kaveya sports coupe concept was part of the grand opening of Jacksonville's new Karma dealership on Beach Boulevard. | Dan Scanlan, WJCT News 89.9
Published on March 11, 2024 at 2:04 pm
One of the country’s newest electric car companies has its 22nd dealership — in Jacksonville.
As Karma Automotive opened its door in a fully renovated furniture store at 11619 Beach Blvd., it also helped premiere the company’s first all-EV luxury sedan and offered a peek at its planned 1,180-horsepower supercar.
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It took more than $5 million to buy and convert the store into a gleaming white 17,000-square-foot EV dealership, said Vladimir Ranguelov, dealer principal of Karma Automotive. It joins one other all-EV dealership in Jacksonville: Tesla Jacksonville, about four miles east at 11650 Abess Blvd.
Karma Automotic, based in Irvine, California, is a small car company with under two dozen dealerships nationwide, including locations in Orlando, Naples and Miami. The company has two new all-EV models coming soon on top of its current Revero gas-electric hybrid.
Designer Henrik Fisker created Karma in 2007 as Fisker Automotive. In 2011, it offered the Karma, a plug-in hybrid sports sedan with a small GM four-cylinder engine acting as a generator to charge its lithium-ion battery pack and electric motors. About 2,000 had been sold when the battery supplier filed for bankruptcy, followed by Fisker Automotive doing the same in 2014.
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Chinese auto-parts supplier Wanxiang Group purchased the assets, changed the company name to Karma in 2014 and sold the Revero in updated versions.
The Revero GT was on display at Jacksonville’s Karma dealership next to the Kaveya sports coupe concept, with the Gyesera — a totally revised version of the Revero and now all-electric — on sale later this year.
“From when we bought the assets of Fisker, we redesigned everything. We didn’t keep anything,” said Marques McCammon, president of Southern California-based Karma Automotive. “Frankly, the car had a number of issues, so we redesigned it. The only thing we kept was the aluminum spaceframe as a baseline. But even that, we redesigned because the crash performance wasn’t good enough.”
As for the dealership on Beach Boulevard, just east of Interstate 295, Ranguelov said he bought the former Classic Home Furniture store for about $2.75 million. He spent $2.7 million to renovate it into a dealership with showroom, offices, a customer lounge and seven-bay service center.
Ranguelov said he selected Jacksonville for Karma’s 22nd U.S. dealership because it was where he wanted to be in Florida, after being offered another possibility in Tampa. He said he has been visiting Jacksonville since 2005 and knows it well.
“Look at Beach Boulevard now. The growth is immense, and there’s a lot of room to grow,” he said. “As to Tampa, everything is oversaturated from population to car brands. … We chose Jacksonville for various reasons. It’s a city that will never stop growing.”
The Gysera premiered on the dealership’s 360-degree photo booth, its round wall rotating to reveal the silver sedan before it silently powered into the crowded showroom.
McCammon, appointed to head Karma Automotive in April 2023, had just done the world premiere of the 199.9-inch-long Gysera on March 2 at the Amelia Island concours d’elegance.
Ranguelov said his new dealership will not only sell and service Karmas, but also handle sales and maintenance of other exotic cars. He predicted he will own “the neighboring six properties to expand.” News of the first expansion will come soon, he said.
