The Fisker Karma made its world driving debut on August 15th, 2009 during the Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races. The event was held at the Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca, California. The Karma did one, complete, twisting lap at the raceway, hitting speeds of up to 100 MPH without using a single drop of gasoline. Here is a video of the car in action at the event. Notice the aggressive, jet turbine-like acceleration note, a fair consolation for those who will miss the growl of a V8 engine.

Fisker Karma Performance Specs:

Plug-in hybrid technology Q DRIVE: 50 miles on a full charge, then a gasoline, charge-sustaining generator kicks in to replenish battery power

Two Driving Modes: The driver will be able to select between two modes of driving. The first mode is Stealth Drive, which is the quiet economy mode for optimal relaxed and efficient driving. By flipping the second paddle behind the steering wheel, the car will switch to Sport Drive, which will access the full power of the vehicle.

Stealth Mode

0-60 in 7.5 seconds (0-100 km/h 7.5 seconds) Top speed 95 mph (153 km/h)

Sport Mode

0-60 in 5.8 seconds (0-100 km/h 5.8 seconds) Top speed 125 mph (200 km/h)

Regenerative brakes featured to recapture braking energy

Low center of gravity provides optimal sport vehicle driving dynamics

Source: Fisker, Autobloggreen