fleet

Karma goes after fleet market with plans to electrify commercial trucks

By Betty C. Morrow 5 months ago

Karma Automotive is looking to make the improbable leap from luxury cars to commercial trucks.

The California-based company announced Monday that it will offer engineering and contract-manufacturing services to fleet customers under the “Powered by Karma” banner. The plan is to offer modular electrified powertrains for a variety of applications, including buses, RVs, step vans, and box trucks, a Karma press release said.

Karma will display two such vehicles—a delivery van and a shuttle bus—Advanced Clean Tech (ACT) Expo this week in Long Beach, California, but didn’t discuss any pending orders for the vehicles.

2021 Karma GS-6

2021 Karma GS-6

The powertrain package Karma plans to offer is designed for Class 3-6 commercial vehicles, with maximum output of 268 horsepower and 1,327 pound-feet of torque. This seems like another iteration of Karma’s previous efforts to enter the commercial-vehicle sector.

Karma has been working on a new platform for commercial vehicles—potentially also to

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Used and new car prices near record highs and the American fleet gets older

By Betty C. Morrow 7 months ago

That old car is worth money. This catch phrase from a long-running TV commercial for Victory Auto Wreckers that ran in the ’80s has never been more accurate. Used car prices are nearing record highs, with some owners selling their gently used cars for more than they paid for them new. At the same time, the average age of cars on American roadways is 12.1 years, according to an IHS Markit report released this week.

“2020 was a radical departure from the norm and challenged assumptions about how vehicle owners use their vehicles,” Todd Campau, associate director of Aftermarket Solutions at IHS Markit, said in a statement. 

At the same time, automakers are reporting record sales months for new cars as the economy and some Americans emerge from the pandemic flush with cash and pent-up demand. These three factors have two things in common: Constrained supply is limiting the availability

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