Marques McCammon Breaks Down Karma’s Comeback & Supercar Ambitions

In this episode of The InEVitable by MotorTrend, hosts Jonny Lieberman and Ed Loh sit down with Marques McCammon, President of Karma Automotive, to talk about the company’s reboot, its American-made ultra-luxury vision, and why the future isn’t fully electric—it’s EREV. Marques traces his incredible career from creating the Dodge Neon SRT-4 to pivotal roles at ASC, Saleen, Aptera, Wind River, Ricardo, and ultimately Karma. He reveals what he found when he arrived at Karma, why he shut everything down to rebuild quality and identity, and how Karma’s new vehicles—including the upcoming Sera, Amaris, Isvara, and the four-motor Kaveya supercar—aim to blend emotional design, handcrafted luxury, and range-extended electric performance. Karma’s goal? To become America’s counterpart to Aston, McLaren, and Ferrari, built in Southern California with an experience-centered philosophy. Featuring deep cut industry stories—from SRT beginnings to Aptera’s shutdown to why EREV is primed for a comeback—this is one of the most wide-ranging and insightful conversations we’ve had. #KarmaAutomotive #TheInevitable #MotorTrend #MarquesMcCammon #EVs #EREV #LuxuryCars #SRT4 #CarCulture #AmericanLuxury 0:00 – What Karma Automotive is (and isn’t): American ultra-luxury explained 0:33 – Welcome to The InEVitable 1:09 – Introducing Marques McCammon, President of Karma 1:40 – The surprising origin of Marques’ career: the Dodge Neon SRT-4 3:00 – How the SRT-4 was created (and almost canceled) 6:33 – The business and politics behind early SRT 8:00 – Marques’ early Chrysler years and working under Tom Gale 12:02 – Leaving Chrysler: ASC, convertible engineering, and specialty vehicles 13:05 – Running Saleen and the end of the S7 era 15:20 – From Saleen to Aptera: early EV optimism and collapse 20:03 – Federal loans, Solyndra fallout, and shutting Aptera down 22:47 – Wind River: the software behind global automotive safety 24:49 – Translating Silicon Valley to Detroit 26:06 – Leading Ricardo’s global automotive business 28:34 – The through-line: learning to become an auto CEO 31:00 – How Marques was recruited to Karma 32:00 – Who actually owns Karma Automotive 33:56 – Why build a luxury car company in Southern California? 36:38 – First impressions: world-class facilities, identity problems 39:17 – Why Marques shut down production immediately 41:06 – The legacy of Fisker, the F-word, and what Karma kept 44:38 – What’s truly new: only 16% of Revero traces back to Fisker 46:44 – The future lineup: Sera, Kaveya, Isvara, Amaris 48:37 – “We are an experience company, not just a car company” 50:04 – Naming philosophy: multicultural, meaningful, intentional 53:02 – What these cars actually are: luxury range-extended EVs 55:10 – Why EREV is coming back 57:21 – Marques’ engineering case for the hybrid-electric future 59:36 – Gas or electric? With Karma, the answer is “yes” 01:01:00 – The karma buying experience vs. Aston, Ferrari, McLaren 01:02:58 – Closing thoughts on passion, performance, and American luxury MotorTrend is the ultimate destination for gearheads looking for the latest automotive research and news. Find the right car, truck or suv for you. ➡️: https://www.motortrend.com/car-finder Follow MotorTrend for the latest! MotorTrend News: https://www.motortrend.com Facebook: / motortrend Instagram: / motortrend Twitter(X): / motortrend TikTok: / motortrend MotorTrend preferred music partner: Universal Production Music MotorTrend is a fully owned subsidiary of Hearst Communications Inc.