Pratham charity aims to educate underprivileged children of India. Sale of Fisker Karma electric vehicle raises £140,000 (€159,770/ $220,680)
The Fisker Karma, an electric vehicle with extended range (EVerTM), was the star lot at the 2011 Pratham UK Gala, selling for a staggering £140,000, over double its market value. All of the proceeds from the sale will go towards funding the various programs run by the charitable organisation.
The winning bidder’s car will feature a unique plaque signed by CEO and Co-Founder of Fisker Automotive, Henrik Fisker.
Pratham UK is an overseas chapter of the children’s charity founded in Mumbai by UNICEF in 1994. Its mission is to ensure that every child in India has the opportunity to attend school and receive an education. Since its inception, the organisation has helped over 36 million Indian children with its literacy campaign.
The auction event raised a total of over £870,000 (€991,800 / $1,371,120 US dollars, which will help fund Pratham programs such as ‘Read India’, an initiative that aims to improve the reading and basic arithmetic skills of children in rural areas.
Designed to reflect Fisker’s paradigm of Uncompromised Responsible LuxuryTM, the Fisker Karma is the first American-designed and engineered luxury vehicle specifically developed to appeal to world markets. It is the only luxury sedan in the world that meets future fuel consumption and emission requirements, making it suitable for any international city.
Uniquely, the Fisker Karma can run in one of two drive modes: Stealth and Sport. Stealth Mode maximizes efficiency, giving the car its greatest range on battery power before activating the gasoline engine-driven generator to sustain battery charge. In Stealth Mode, the Karma can accelerate from zero to 60 mph (97 km/h) in 7.9 seconds and achieve a top speed of 95 mph (153 km/h). With Sport Mode engaged, the gasoline engine drives the generator to provide enough electricity for 403 total system horsepower, allowing the Karma to accelerate from zero to 60 mph in just 5.9 seconds and achieve a top speed of 125 mph (201 km/h).
In all aspects of performance, the Fisker Karma is designed to be a true driver’s car. Its proprietary, advanced aluminum space frame incorporates new levels of rigidity and strength that give the Karma world-class ride and handling characteristics. Fisker Automotive’s engineering team designed the Karma’s space frame around the car’s unique powertrain, filing for multiple patents in the process. Benefitting from four-wheel independent SLA (double-wishbone) suspension that also employs aluminum components, the Karma has been specifically tuned to run on standard 22-inch aluminum wheels, a first for a production car.