Move Over, Fisker Karma. Here comes Frazer-Nash Namir Hybrid Sports Car

Henrik Fisker is the man behind the truly outrageous Fisker Karma, a plug-in hybrid that is the current last word in green production cars.

Despite being (like the Chevrolet Volt) a series hybrid whose four-cylinder gas engine is there just to generate electricity for electric motors, the 100-mpg Karma is a speed demon: zero to 60 in 5.8 seconds and a top speed of 125 mph. It has a claimed 50-mile range in all-electric range, so if you drive less than that you could go years between fill-ups.

But this is not a story about the Fisker Karma. Making its debut at the annual Geneva motor show this year was a far more outrageous hybrid, based on a famous British automotive name, Frazer-Nash (no, not Kaiser-Frazer, that one was American and this one is British).

The Frazer-Nash Namir is over-the-top in almost every aspect. Like the Fisker, it's engine drives a generator, but this one is a tiny 814-cc rotary job that powers up a 400-volt lithium-polymer pack and two huge electric motors with a combined output of 362 horsepower. Crazed statistics? You bet: 0-62 in 3.5 seconds, and almost 92 mpg. In other words, very close to the Fisker, but even faster and more extreme looking.

I asked Henrik Fisker himself what he thought of this radical upstart.


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