Karma at The Quail
Karma doubles up at Monterey Car Week
The Amaris and Gyesera mark a concrete move towards an expanded 'for sale' line-up
It is hard to knock the work rate of Karma's California-based design team, not only in putting pen to paper but also with respect to travel. In the space of just ten months we saw the Invictus in Las Vegas, the Kaveya at Goodwood and just a month or so later, two production-ready models in the Amaris and Gyesera during Monterey Car Week 2025.
"It’s an incredibly exciting time for us, and a rare opportunity to be part of the renaissance of this brand," VP of design Nicholas David told CDN. "Yes there’s a huge volume of work, but being here in this formative time is a big thrill."
Both the Amaris and Gyesera were previewed earlier this Spring, the Amaris as an exterior-only prototype and the Gyesera digitally. The Gyesera is described as 'production intent' at this stage with an eye toward Q4 2025 while production of the Amaris will begin Q4 2026.
It's a sign that things are heating up in the production department. Until now it is only the Revero and GS (with variants of both models) that have been on sale to the public since Karma Automotive was created in 2014.
The hybrid Gyesera will be the successor to the plug-in hybrid Revero, while the Amaris is framed as "the world’s first Hybrid Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV) performance luxury coupé." To be fair, that is quite a specific segment to champion, but a win is a win.
Both seem to stick closely to Karma's blueprint for a hybrid super coupe with mega performance. The Gyesera fits the bill, with 566bhp on tap and a familiar silhouette: a four-door grand coupe with a long nose and even longer wheelbase.
The overhangs are short front at both ends while a discrete boot spoiler gives a hint of 'duck tail' about the rear. There is nothing ostentatious about the exterior, with flecks of metallic sky blue applied tastefully on the brake calipers and a thin line around the car's lower extremities as part of the Newport grey Mist launch spec.
Gyesera is our canyon carver. Amaris is our high-performance coupe
That theme continues inside with similar accents found on the armrests and seats for both rows of passengers. Up front, the cockpit is clean and largely uncluttered. There is a touchscreen but its placement sits far lower down on the instrument panel, allowing for an uninterrupted one-piece dash.
The Amaris feels in stark contrast, eliminating two doors and the rear row of seating and displayed at The Quail in a deep 'Solar Blaze Red' that reeks of 'performance.' That is the correct connotation it seems, with an exceptionally powerful turbocharged four-cylinder which generates and sends power through a 41.5 kWh battery and dual electric motors. It is relatively complex stuff but ultimately results in more than 700bhp and 676 ft-lbs of torque, 400 miles of combined range and 100 miles of pure electric driving.
The Amaris' black rear mask and diffuser cuts upwards towards the base of the boot lid, evoking the look of a Le Mans race car in some ways and in particular the Porsche 917. At least to this writer's eyes. The racer theme ties in nicely with the 'Americana' inspired side-exit exhausts, integrated toward the rear of the sills and ahead of those huge 22-inch rims. The boot spoiler floats on a central fixing and has been designed to offer improved downforce and stability at higher speeds while also reducing drag.
The Target Acquisition light signature features on both models, as does the distinctive 'comet line' which wraps around the cowl and shoulder lines of the cars, although the Gyesera employs this less overtly than the Amaris and Kaveya.
"Where Revero is voluptuous, Gyesera is taut, with clean surfaces and lower, simplified nose," says David. "Amaris takes us one step further, closer to Kaveya — both it terms of its performance and its aesthetic — and the new vision for the brand and how that takes shape into new vehicle segments. In this case, the high performance luxury coupe. Gyesera is our canyon carver. Amaris is our high-performance coupe."
The overall architecture of the interior design is similar between both of these new models, but the Amaris is far more geometric and layered. Busy, even. Carbon fibre and a mixture of smooth and textured surfaces are scattered throughout, including the steering wheel. In Crimson Orbit trim there is a deep red colour drench that only enforces the fact that it is a very different car to the Gyesera.
"The studio and company as a whole are very excited to see these cars come to fruition," says David, "and we’re very proud that the vehicles are seen as unique to the brand. People aren’t saying that our cars look like anything else, which is great to hear. And we’re also seeing, shall we say, our influence reflected by other manufacturers.” A nod to the Lexus Sport Concept also shown at The Quail, we reckon.
We are told the Amaris will retail at approximately U$200,000.
Look out for live shots of both cars from our round-up of Monterey Car Week and The Quail.
