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We often joke about taking an electric car and stuffing a big, powerful V8 under the hood for more power and performance. Obviously, it would be a bit more difficult to pull it off in a car like the Toyota Prius or Chevy Volt, but what about the Fisker Karma?
[2]Yup, LS9. Enough said.
Almost nobody will argue that the styling is striking – being both attractive and “very today,” but it isn’t especially fast. It’s technically a hybrid, with it’s 270 HP, 2.0L turbocharged, GM 4-cylinder, but it’s size and weight keep it a 14-second performer in the quarter-mile.
So what if you have a ton of money, you want a Fisker Karma, but you want it to be fast? Oh, and what if you’re not really bothered by fuel mileage concerns or being eco-friendly? Then what you might want is a Destino! Confused? Don’t be.
A company called VL Automotive [3] formed by Gilbert Villereal has already built a prototype with the help of former GM Vice Chairman, Bob Lutz. Lutz, as we now know, was largely responsible for most of the killer performance cars GM released over the last ten years.
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The Destino is not some tame LS1 or LS3-equipped car either; it’s rocking a 638 HP LS9 – the very same engine that you would find in the C6 ZR1. Which means that you can tune the heck out of this thing, just like any other LS-engine out there. Imagine this at LS Fest [5]!
It’s not available for sale as of yet. The car is still under development, getting EPA certified and all of the other technical formalities that any production car has to go through these days. But it’s already been said that the new LT1 may find itself under the hood in later models, and the car will (hopefully) be ready for sale in the second quarter of 2013.
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[6]
It may look like a Fisker Karma at first glance, but eagle-eyed observers will notice that it has a different grille, emblems, and other subtle tweaks.