Fisker Atlantic: An Enigma Wrapped In A Riddle Powered By BMW

Fisker's long-awaited follow-up to their more-than-a-$100K sports sedan is finally here. At least the promise of the follow-up to the Karma is finally here. Well, as a concept anyway. The Fisker Atlantic plug-in hybrid design prototype — once called the Nina — finally made it's debut last night here ahead of the New York Auto Show. This is it.

The Atlantic Electric Vehicle Extended Range drivetrain will boast "highly competitive performance for a car in its class" and it will be the first Fisker to use a BMW-sourced four-cylinder.

The rest of the drivetrain including performance and fuel economy numbers? Those are still under wraps. The mid-sized sedan will offer rear-wheel drive on the base model and an all-wheel drive model as a feature package.

So what was it like in person? After images of the four-door Atlantic leaked on the internets a few days ago I wasn't too surprised to see a slightly smaller Fisker Karma.

One thing is for sure, the all-new Atlantic visually solidifies the Fisker design language. With a front end shaped like the offspring of a striking rattle snake and a shooting-brake plus a set of rounded rear haunches, the Atlantic is so similar to Fisker's other designs. So when do we actually see this Fisker hit production?

Well, we don't know. Bloomberg reported this morning that the U.S. Department of Energy won't
disclose milestones Fisker has to meet for getting $529 million in U.S. electric-vehicle development loans.

But, if by some miracle Fisker can snag that cash, then the Atlantic can jump into the already crowded mid-sized luxury sedan scene, once there, it should do quite well against the rather bland competition — especially if they can avoid the design and software problems that have plagued the Karma.

Also given a rumored starting price around $50,000 (and don't forget your tax credit!). So, you know, given all that, the Atlantic might just sell a few units. As long as people look past the last-gen Ford Fusion wheels.