93NEXT LEVEL SPACE
Karma Automotive’s parent company, Wanxiang Group
Corporation, is China’s largest automotive parts supplier
by revenue. With its planned breakneck pace of product
launches and Karma’s explicit desire to avoid any sort of
mass production, the California-based, Chinese-backed
startup sits in a distinct space in the market compared to,
say, Tesla Motors. That decision is part of the strategy. “We
don’t want to go to mass production,” Zhou said. “That
would be a big risk for us. Others are trying, but I don’t
know how big a chance they have to survive. I don’t think
startups will have a good chance compared to big OEMs.
“We plan to produce the car here [in California],” he con-
tinued. “The maximum we will build is 12,000 or 13,000
per year. We will go to this level of production, but not on
our own. We can work together with a company that is
very good at production. We don’t have to be. We build the
brand, we develop the highest technology, develop the car,
we design the car, we test the car, then we make it a turn-
key production. Like printing a car.”
Trying to be exclusive—even while building a brand,
without necessarily building the cars—is an interesting
take on entering the car business, but it’s rooted in both
the business model (cars aren’t the only profit area) and
the company’s Southern California-centric ethos.
The round thumb pads
on the steering wheel
will feature an iPhone-
like pressure sensor
allowing two kinds
of “clicks” for more
functionality.