CARMEL VALLEY, Calif., Aug. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering, Karma Automotive celebrates two Global Premieres: the Karma Ivara "GT-UV" Design Study, and the Karma Kaveya super coupe with production-ready interior. Together these vehicles telegraph the brilliant future of California's first and only ultra-luxury automaker.
Further, Karma Automotive has announced that the Karma Kaveya will be the first vehicle to be produced resulting from its bilateral collaboration with Intel Automotive. Due in 2026 with butterfly-doors and up to 1,000HP of pure electric power, Kaveya is expected to be the globe's first production vehicle built upon Software-Defined Vehicle Architecture (SDVA), co-developed with Intel Automotive, which will underpin all Karma vehicles from the Kaveya onward. In addition to deploying SDVA throughout its upcoming model range, together with Intel Automotive, Karma Automotive will benchmark, demonstrate and validate critical concepts for the advancement of open standards for SDVA that can be shared openly and commercially to support the transformation of the broader automotive industry.
"Auburn, Duesenberg, and Packard are Karma Automotive's inspiration because they harken back to an era we aim to repeat, an era when American ultra-luxury set the benchmark for the world, and when the steep prices they commanded were justified not only by the beauty and speed of their cars, but also their brains and engineering prowess found nowhere else in the industry," says Marques McCammon, President, Karma Automotive. "The intellect of Karma's vehicles will be several steps ahead, creating distinctive, unique, and engaging automobiles which return a valid paradigm of value that's been absent from the ultra-luxury segment for nearly a century."
Karma Automotive will first return to the marketplace in the 4th Quarter, 2024, with the 3rd Generation Karma Revero, offering just 150 examples priced from below $150,000 USD. Revero is the globe's first luxury plug-in hybrid and utilizes Karma's E-REV (Energy-Range Extended Vehicle) powertrain, an appealing option for an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) amid potential, near-term fluctuations in client and market demand for pure Electric Vehicles (EV).
"While the Karma Kaveya will be a pure EV, the Karma Ivara is being developed as either a pure EV, or an E-REV, potentially with a charge port aft of the front driver's side wheel, flanked by a gasoline cap on the other," says McCammon. "Karma Automotive can adapt its powertrains quickly and nimbly in response to the shifting demands of our clients and the marketplace, further ensuring our longevity and success."
Global Premiere: Karma Ivara "GT-UV" Design Study
The Karma Ivara Design Study establishes a new segment of multi-terrain capable vehicle, the "GT-UV," or Grand Touring Utility Vehicle, delivering a dramatic four-seater concept unseen before in the ultra-luxury segment, or anywhere else.
Karma Automotive's signature Comet Line draws exotic proportions, spanning the entire width of the Ivara to accentuate the steeply-raked windshield, tracking around the cabin, then continuing through the widest point of the rear fenders. The secondary Comet Line separates the all-black upper cabin section with full panoramic roof from the lower body, the Ivara capturing a visual tension resembling an arrow drawn back in its quiver, ready to launch. The Ivara's front fascia reflects the new face of Karma Automotive, lacking a traditional grille with concealed headlamps, its low nose and hood emulating a supercar stance, its fast rear glass reiterating its driver-focused purpose.
Utility is also within Ivara's remit, as demonstrated by its protective matte undertray finished with self-healing paint, achieved through microscopic segments which create a rebound effect from lesser impacts.
Global Premiere: Karma Kaveya with Production-Ready Interior
Presently undergoing development testing and anticipated for 2026, the Karma Kaveya is draped in carbon fiber bodywork with butterfly doors, offering up to 1,000HP of pure electric power with estimated pricing from $300,000 (USD). At Monterey Car Week, the Kaveya's production-ready interior breaks cover, demonstrating the company's fastidious attention to detail and exceptional capability for personalization.
The central hallmark of Karma Automotive's new design language is the Comet Line, which forms a wake from the Kaveya's nose through its bonnet, enshrouding its cockpit then tapering downwards to its conclusion through the butterfly doors, capturing an aura akin to a stealth jet. Its interior, evocative of spaceflight, is built to suit each client's every demand in concert with Karma Design, and Kaveya's interior atmosphere will benefit from the first-ever in-car audio system by luxury audio brand, Master & Dynamic.
The interior of the Karma Kaveya as specified for its Global Premiere draws inspiration from Alchemy; the interaction of interior surfaces and textural contrasts between gloss black, suede and leather, punctuated by metallic elements that quietly shimmer orange and blue, as if fired in a kiln. Midnight blue leather produced in partnership with Bridge of Weir conjures the vastness of outer space, completing a cohesive narrative from the Kaveya's exterior Comet Line and "Interstellar Silver" paintwork through to its interior. Non-essential displays remain hidden until summoned, following a "reductionary" approach that enables the driver to remain focused on the pleasure of driving.
Global Announcement: Bilateral Collaboration with Intel Automotive, Software-Defined Vehicle Archtecture (SVDA) Explained
Karma Automotive has announced its bilateral collaboration with Intel Automotive to co-develop Software Defined Vehicle Architecture (SVDA).
Since the invention of the automobile in 1888, its architecture has remained relatively unchanged: powertrains have become more powerful and efficient, and vehicle safety has greatly improved, but the format has stayed largely the same. With the addition of each new feature from fuel injection and power windows to air-conditioning and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), today's vehicle typically has over 100 Electric Control Units (ECUs), each delivering a single function, requiring over a mile of copper cabling to connect. Layer upon layer has been piled atop a foundation which can no longer support the future of the automobile. The solution can be found in the Information Technology (IT) industry, which long ago moved away from single function devices to high-performance computing systems where multiple workloads run on a single, centralized system. Similarly, SVDA looks at the vehicle systems as a whole, and allows for the seamless movement of workloads between software-defined central "compute" systems and software-defined zonal "compute" sub-systems, ensuring maximum flexibility, optimal cost and performance with significant energy efficiency benefits.
As an example, many EVs – even when switched "off" – support a feature that still monitors the external cameras for security threats or to recognize the driver as they approach. Typically, this feature is supported on the vehicle's in-cabin "compute" subsystem, which due to its high-power consumption, puts unnecessary drain on the battery even when the vehicle is off. This workload doesn't have to stay resident on the software-defined central "compute" system. Using Intel's software-defined zonal controllers to handle camera streams, data center application orchestration concepts can be embraced and migrate the workload to a lower-power device (in this case the zonal controller) and wake the central compute system only when needed. It would save energy, improve efficiency and reduce the total number of electronic control units (ECUs) in the vehicle by consolidating workloads dynamically onto a software-defined zonal controller.
About Karma Automotive
Karma Automotive is California's first and only ultra-luxury automaker, manufacturing electric and E-REV (Extended Range Electric Vehicles) at its production facility in Moreno Valley, CA, with its executive and design headquarters in nearby Irvine, CA. The Karma portfolio embodies California's spirit of innovation and entrepreneurial boldness, reflected by the signature Comet Line which is the central hallmark of Karma's new design language. The 3rd Generation Karma Revero sport sedan, the world's first luxury plug-in hybrid, will be introduced in 4th Quarter 2024, offering luxury balanced with conscientiousness delivered without compromise. The Gyesera four-seater is anticipated in 2025, and in 2026, the Karma Kaveya super coupe, with up to 1,000HP and butterfly-doors, will arrive. In August, 2024, Karma Automotive announced its bilateral collaboration with Intel Automotive to co-develop Software Defined Vehicle Architecture (SDVA) which will underpin its upcoming vehicles beginning with the Karma Kaveya. Further, Karma Automotive will provide Tier 1's and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) with business-to-business SDVA solutions, as it does today with Karma Connect, its proprietary Vehicle Data Management and Over the Air services platform, which presently provides services to the world's second largest OEM. Karma Automotive's dealer network spans North America, Europe, South America and the Middle East.
About Intel
Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) is an industry leader, creating world-changing technology that enables global progress and enriches lives. Inspired by Moore's Law, we continuously work to advance the design and manufacturing of semiconductors to help address our customers' greatest challenges. By embedding intelligence in the cloud, network, edge and every kind of computing device, we unleash the potential of data to transform business and society for the better. To learn more about Intel's innovations, go to newsroom.intel.com and intel.com.
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