Karma Automotive LLC’s landing in Newport Beach was a good one—so good it’s in the process of doubling its presence there.
“It’s the perfect placement for us,” said General Manager Ehren Bragg. “In the last couple of months, we sold more cars than any other Karma retailer.”
The Irvine-based automaker opened the 2,000-square-foot company store off Pacific Coast Highway in November, next door to Bill Story’s Maserati and Ferrari dealerships and just down the street from Pagani, Porsche, Bentley and BMW showrooms. It shared a building with 930 Sushi, and when the restaurant announced plans to leave, Karma pounced on the opportunity to expand.
“We could use the extra space, and we wanted to make sure that we didn’t have somebody that we didn’t want moving next door,” Bragg said, adding that the automaker signed a long-term lease.
The location is a Tesla-type showroom where customers can purchase a car, though it’s not a franchised dealership. Its Orange County service center is at its Irvine headquarters.
The “crossover traffic” from the adjacent luxury brands has been “really incredible.”
“People are still discovering Karma,” he said. “Every day they come over [from other showrooms] and say, ‘I didn’t know you were here.’”
All dealerships at the plaza and in the surrounding area are after a similar buyer—an affluent person who likely owns more than one high-end vehicle. Karma’s current offering consists of just one model—the $130,000 Revero hybrid sports car.
“Anybody that is a Maserati Quattroporte customer would definitely also be a candidate for [Revero],” Bragg said.
Karma has about a dozen franchise dealerships, including Rusnak Auto Group in Pasadena, and plans to add more in coming years for a total of 30 to 40 spread among major U.S. cities.
“We are noticing that Karma customers don’t want to be far away from service,” he said. “Even if the cars are picked up and dropped off, they still want to know that they can get to a dealership within more or less half an hour.”
The automaker also plans more company stores—it’s looking for locations in Los Angeles and San Francisco—to open by year-end.
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The renovation efforts in Newport Beach include “removing everything restaurant-related—the grease trap and all that good stuff.”
Karma hired Gensler in Newport Beach to design the expansion, using “reclaimed wood, marble finishes, and lots of glass.” It will include Revero’s “power train sitting on a chassis that’s uncovered so people can see how our hybrid power system works,” as well as “an interactive video display wall so customers can “see some of the manufacturing process, and also configure a car.”
The company store, when finished in the fourth quarter, will also feature “a pretty big lounge area where customers can congregate when we have parties.”
Karma has several events in the works, mostly collaborations with other luxury brands—high-end cigar manufacturers, golf simulators, clothiers, architects and yacht companies. There’s an upcoming CEO Summit at its headquarters, and in mid-June it will showcase its cars at nearby Lido Marina Village.
“It’s an evening of luxury, where all brands bring their stuff,” Bragg said. “Once the [renovation] is finished, we’ll [host the events] over at our place.”
The expanded company store will have the capacity to accommodate new vehicle models, which are scheduled to come through the pipeline within a couple of years.
“Starting in 2019 and from that point forward, we’ll have at least a car a year to launch—that’s imperative,” former Chief Executive Tom Corcoran said in an earlier interview. The lineup will include an SUV, a coupe and a convertible, all built on “different platforms” and embodying the “Karma look.”
The automaker, which Wanxiang Group Corp. in China purchased in a 2014 bankruptcy court auction for about $149 million in cash, added 188 employees last year for a total of 588. The company store’s staffing will increase from six to eight employees when the renovation is complete.
