Come rain, come shine... come lawsuits, Fisker appears determined not to let anything get in the way of a late 2009 launch for its upcoming Karma electric sedan. Along with the spy shots over on Autocar, the first indication of what on-board powerplant will charge the batteries is mentioned: a Volkswagen 1.4 liter. No mention is made of which 1.4 liter engine is being considered for the Karma, but we'd imagine it'll be a basic engine without forced induction of any sort if we had to wager an early guess. There is also no mention of whether or not the photographed sedan was using battery power or dino power. Regardless, seeing the Fisker Karma undergoing testing in California gives a bit of a the "warm fuzzies" to those who are in anticipation of the vehicle, which, as its second place finish in our list of the Top 20 most exciting green cars proves, definitely includes AutoblogGreen.

UPDATE: For what it's worth these photos were not captured by a photographer hiding in the bushes. They were apparently actually put out by Fisker's Beverly Hills PR agency Rogers & Cowan. We still don't know anything about the mechanicals of the car in question, only that Fisker is trying to generate some buzz.

[Source: Autocar, Autoweek]

Someone over at Fisker Automotive has been having fun with Photoshop. In the company's gallery of images for the Karma we see the sleek and "sexy" hybrid in a dark blue on some sort of rocky seashore. Very nice. There are also some actual close-up photos of the Karma taken by photographer Robert Kerian. The images are, I think, to accompany the Karma's debut in the April 2008 edition of the Robb Report Collection (pr after the break). The Robb Report is that glossy fantasy magazine that lusts after luxury items, so I guess this makes the Karma now officially drool-worthy. There's no new information about this 100 mpge PHEV, but at least we have something new to drool on look at. Check things out over at the Fisker Automotive website or in the gallery below.

The look of the Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid that was unveiled in Detroit today is not a surprise. We saw a sneak peek of it all the way back in October. It was on the last day of October, but still. The difference is that now we got to oooh and aaah over this expensive and sleek (and I'm tempted to say shark-like, because that's what it reminded me of) PHEV hybrid in person after the curtain dropped this afternoon. I stood in the polite scrum and shot y'all some pictures of the Karma, just in case you can't find $80,000 to buy a Karma, the first vehicle from Fisker Automotive, Inc. in a few years. The company says it hopes to sell 15,000 Karmas a year when these go on sale towards the end of 2009.

The Karma has impressive performance numbers, with a 0-60 time of under six seconds and a top speed of more than 125 mph. The vehicle is moved by something called the Q Drive, which will be found in all future Fisker Karma derivatives, and has two driving modes: Stealth Drive (a nice name for electric only) and Sport Drive (which uses both parts of the hybrid drivetrain). Should you plug the Karma in at night, you can get 50 miles of EV-only driving. Unlike most high-end sports cars in the green realm (the Tesla Roadster, for example), the Karma has four doors. Like all of the others, this will remain tantalizingly out of reach for most of us. Still, one more player in this realm never hurts.

Video on the way after the jump.

Related:

• More details on Fisker's upcoming hybrid
• Henrik Fisker goes green with ECO-CHIC plug-in vehicle