Karma maker plans 50,000 EVs/yr factory in China to build vehicles based on the platform

The Wanxiang Group bought Fisker Automotive’s assets out of bankruptcy and it has since remarketed the company as ‘Karma Automotive’, after the name of the company’s flagship plug-in sedan. While Wanxiang is based in China, Karma is still located in California, where it established a factory to build a new version of the Karma.

Now we learn that the Wanxiang Group is planning to build a factory in China to produce 50,000 cars per year factory based on Karma’s vehicle platform.

The news comes from an application for an environmental impact review obtained by AutoNews via Wanxiang’s website:

“The investment value for the proposed project will be 2.5 billion yuan ($375 million) and the factory will have capacity to manufacture 50,000 cars a year. […] Wanxiang plans to mainly produce cars on the Karma platform at the China plant, including extended-range versions of the Karma and Atlantic models, according to the application. Out of the 50,000 cars a year in capacity, 39,000 have been earmarked for the two-door Atlantic, which has a top speed of 134 mph.”

While not entirely clear, so far it looks like the production from the plant would be entirely dedicated to the Chinese market.

Here are the Karma and Atlantic:

Wanxiang is not currently listed as an automaker in China, which is required to obtain an auto manufacturing license in the country, but as the government plans to spur the growth of “new energy vehicles”, it plans to issue special permits to non-automakers to start manufacturing vehicles, especially electric vehicles.

The Wanxiang Group could end up being one of the first companies to receive such a licence.