Karma Automotive will distribute its cars through both dealers and company-owned stores

There were a lot of different problems that ultimately led to Fisker Automotive’s demise. Distribution was likely one of them, though probably not the most important one. Tesla has brought the issue of electric vehicle distribution forward with its battle to be allowed to sell directly to consumers everywhere in the US.

Considering Tesla is the only successful new car company in the US in decades, you might think that newcomers would copy its distribution model, but it looks like Fisker’s comeback will mainly go through dealerships.

Fisker, now Karma Automotive, announced this week its distribution strategy. The company said that it will be  “using both independent dealers and also company owned brand-experience centers to sell and service the new Revero”, the updated version of its Karma.

While the company announced distribution through dealers and company-owned stores, it only confirmed agreements with dealers and didn’t announce any company-owned locations. You can read the full list of agreements below. There are eight in the U.S. and two in Canada.

Joost de Vries, VP of Sales & Service, commented in a press release:

“We spent the last year going through a long and complex process to ensure that our distribution strategy would live up to the exacting standards for luxury and service our customers will expect. There are advantages to both dealer and company-owned locations. There are also a multitude of regional, legal and business considerations that make one or the other more attractive. We chose both approaches which will benefit our customers over the lifetime of their affiliation with the brand.”

You might think that by announcing both a distribution model based on both dealers and company-owned stores, the company would open stores where it is allowed to sell directly to consumer in the market and use dealers where direct sales law prohibit sales from automakers, but Karma is actually making agreements with dealers in market where it would be allowed to sell directly, like Tesla.

Here’s the list of dealership agreements: