At The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering, during Monterey Car Week last week, Karma Automotive revealed two new vehicles—the Kaveya super coupe with a production-ready interior and the Ivara design study—a few days after announcing an SDV (software-defined vehicle) collaboration with Intel Automotive. When it arrives in 2026, the partners say that the Kaveya is anticipated to be the world’s first vehicle developed from the ground up with a true SDVA (software-defined vehicle architecture).

“Auburn, Duesenberg, and Packard are Karma Automotive’s inspiration because they harken back to an era we aim to repeat, an era when American ultra-luxury set the benchmark for the world, and when the steep prices they commanded were justified not only by the beauty and speed of their cars, but also their brains and engineering prowess found nowhere else in the industry,” said Marques McCammon, President of Karma Automotive. “The intellect of Karma’s vehicles will be several steps ahead, creating distinctive, unique, and engaging automobiles which return a valid paradigm of value that’s been absent from the ultra-luxury segment for nearly a century.”

Karma will first return to the market in Q4 of 2024 with the third-generation Revero with the company’s E-REV (energy-range extended vehicle) powertrain, offering just 150 examples priced from below $150,000. The company pitches the Revero, an updated Fisker Automotive Karma, as the first luxury plug-in hybrid and an appealing option amid the fluctuations in market demand for pure electric vehicles (EVs). Plans call for the new Revero to be followed by the Gyesera four-seater in 2025.

“While the Karma Kaveya will be a pure EV, the Karma Ivara is being developed as either a pure EV or an E-REV, potentially with a charge port aft of the front driver’s side wheel, flanked by a gasoline cap on the other,” said McCammon. “Karma Automotive can adapt its powertrains quickly and nimbly in response to the shifting demands of our clients and the marketplace, further ensuring our longevity and success.”

Karma Automotive manufactures its vehicles at a facility in Moreno Valley, CA, with its executive and design headquarters in nearby Irvine, CA. Its dealer network spans North America, Europe, South America, and the Middle East.

 

Kaveya and Ivara

Presently undergoing development testing, the Kaveya with its carbon-fiber bodywork and butterfly doors, will offer up to 1000 hp (745 kW) of pure electric power. With optional all-wheel drive and a sub-3-s 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) acceleration time, estimated pricing will be from $300,000.

The central hallmark of Karma’s new design language is the Comet Line, forming a wake from the Kaveya’s nose through its hood, encircling its cockpit, then tapering downward to its conclusion through the butterfly doors—”capturing an aura akin to a stealth jet.”

Its interior, said to be “evocative of spaceflight,” is built to suit each client in collaboration with Karma Design. For its global premiere, it draws inspiration from Alchemy, the interaction of interior surfaces and textural contrasts between gloss black, suede, and leather, and by metallic elements that shimmer orange and blue “as if fired in a kiln.”

The midnight blue leather produced in partnership with Bridge of Weir is meant to conjure the vastness of outer space, completing a narrative from the Kaveya’s exterior Comet Line and Interstellar Silver paintwork through to its interior.

Nonessential displays remain hidden until summoned, following a “reductionary” approach that enables the driver to focus on the “pleasure of driving.” The interior experience will benefit from the first-ever in-car audio system by the luxury brand Master & Dynamic.

The Ivara is designed to establish a new segment of a multi-terrain-capable vehicle called the GT-UV (Grand Touring-Utility Vehicle), delivering a dramatic four-seater concept. One example of that utility is demonstrated by its protective matte undertray finished with self-healing paint, achieved through microscopic segments that create a rebound effect from lesser impacts.

The Ivara’s front fascia reflects the new face of Karma, lacking a traditional grille with concealed headlamps. Its low nose and hood are meant to emulate a supercar, its “fast” rear glass reiterating its driver-focused purpose.

The Comet Line here spans the entire width of the Ivara to accentuate the steeply raked windshield, tracking around the cabin, and then continuing through the widest point of the rear fenders. A secondary Comet Line separates the all-black upper cabin section with a full panoramic roof from the lower body.

 

Software-defined vehicle architecture

In addition to deploying the SDVA throughout its upcoming model range, Karma and Intel will benchmark, demonstrate, and validate critical concepts for the advancement of SDVA open standards that can be shared openly and commercially to support the transformation of the broader automotive industry.

“Karma Automotive, together with Intel Automotive, will realize SDVA’s full potential to create innovative, intelligent, and beautiful Karma automobiles which, in addition to delivering unparalleled driving dynamics, will be highly efficient and offer an exceptional ownership experience,” said McCammon. “For Tier Ones and OEMs not quite ready to take the leap from the old way of doing things to the new, Karma Automotive will play as an ally, helping them make that transition with business-to-business SDVA solutions in the same way we do today with Karma Connect, our proprietary vehicle-data-management and over-the-air services platform, which presently provides services to the world’s second-largest OEM.”

All future Karma automobiles to follow the Kaveya, including the potential production version of the GT-UV design study, will follow this same path in using the SDVA.

“At Intel Automotive, we can see that the industry is facing a perfect storm of unprecedented change,” said Jack Weast, Intel Fellow, Vice President, General Manager, Intel Automotive. “Together, through this collaboration with Karma Automotive, we’re in a position to prepare the industry for the leap forward to SDVA without leaving anyone behind.”

McCammon and Weast first aligned on their future automotive vision during their work as colleagues over a decade ago at Wind River, formerly a division of Intel and now owned by Aptiv.

Instead of today’s typical vehicle with over 100 ECUs (electric control units), some delivering a single function, the SDVA looks at vehicle systems holistically. It enables the easy movement of workloads between software-defined central compute systems and software-defined zonal compute subsystems, ensuring maximum flexibility, optimal cost, and performance, with significant energy efficiency benefits—and significant reductions in the total ECU numbers.

Using Intel’s software-defined zonal controllers to handle camera streams, for instance, data center application orchestration concepts can be embraced and migrate the workload to a lower-power device (in this case the zonal controller) and wake the central compute system only when needed.

Specifically, Karma is leveraging Intel’s technology in three “transformative” areas.

For intelligent workload management, Intel’s AI-enabled SoC (system-on-chip) serves as the vehicle “brain,” dynamically managing resources and optimizing performance. To intelligently manage energy, the company’s power management SoC maximizes efficiency for inverters, chargers, and converters, maximizing battery life and performance. Workload consolidation is enabled by software-defined zonal controllers that streamline the electrical architecture, simplifying complexity and increasing overall efficiency.

According to Intel, the Karma collaboration paves the way for a future where vehicles learn individual driving styles, optimizing power delivery for maximum efficiency. Cars intelligently respond to the driving environment, adjusting range estimates and issuing warnings based on real-time data such as temperature and terrain. Systems proactively adjust based on learned models and real-time needs, enhancing the overall functionality.