CARazed

We love to see the best of both worlds, cars people will love to drive and cars that strive to be green. Fisker Automotive is proving you can have your cake and eat it too with this beautiful sedan. You may not recognize the names but you probably know the cars they helped bring to life for Ford, BMW and Aston Martin. Henrik Fisker was the automotive designer of the Aston Martin DB9, V8 Vantage and BMW Z8. Initial funding for this project came from Palo Alto Investors of Palo Alto, California. (Yeah Silicon Valley Backers! We Love You!)

In the next few weeks expect to see Fisker’s latest genius in the press and at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) where they’ll be unveiling the luxury Fisker Plug-In Hybrid Sedan. A car that will be able to drive on batteries alone for up to 50 miles. A gasoline or diesel engine works in conjunction with the electric drive to pick up the pace when needed.

Base price will be about $80,000 and should be available in the 4th quarter of 2009. Annual production is expected to be about 15,000. Final fuel economy is not yet known but it’s expected to be near 100 MPG.

The drive system in this new sedan will be supplied by Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc, an alternative energy company leading the development of advanced propulsion systems, energy storage, and alternative energy vehicles like the Fisker Plug-In Hybrid Sedan. Quantum is no stranger to the technology manufacturing areana having been a trusted supplier for Toyota, GM and NASA.

We are so excited to hear more about this project. When delivered this car will demonstrate that Plug-In Hybrids are today’s answer to our fossil fuel and environmental challenges. We also hope projects like this send a loud and clear message to everyone, buyers and auto industry alike, that we must move in this direction and stop waiting for future technologies like hydrogen fuel cells and better batteries to arrive. Those technologies will come in time and we will move toward them when they mature, but Plug-In Hybrid technology is here right now.

As consumers we control the future if we simply choose to make the best informed decision as buyers. If we simply stopped buying cars until they started delivering affordable cars that use the technology this high-end luxury sedan does, we could significantly reduce or eliminate our need for foreign oil, make huge environmental improvements, while having very nice and fun cars to buy in short order. We just need to demand it with our wallets. Is that so CARazed? Comments?