Which way does Karma Automotive go?
The company shed some 200 workers in November—a good chunk on the engineering side—following an earlier round of layoffs in September at its Moreno Valley facility. That also came with the departures of Chief Technology Officer Bob Kruse and President and Chief Operating Officer Dennis Dougherty this year.
The company called the layoffs a “realignment” in keeping with a strategy it’s always had to diversify the business to be more than just an automaker selling vehicles. To that end, the larger vision involves manufacturing, design and engineering services and the licensing of Karma intellectual property.
The changes provided chatter as to whether Karma Automotive was on the verge of repeating the past and going the way of its successor brand, Fisker Automotive, which filed for bankruptcy in 2013.
Now it’s time to see what of the company’s strategic initiatives take hold and what doesn’t.
