Marques   McCammon   Appointed   President   of   KARMA   Automotive

The opportunity to lead Karma is like opening my favorite erector set on Christmas morning.  It’s magical — I am holding everything I’ve dreamed of in my hands. The only question is, what amazing thing will we create with all the pieces?

• Marques McCammon

IRVINE, CALIF. (April 24, 2023) – Karma Automotive, the Southern California-based manufacturer of ultra luxury electric vehicles, has named long-time automotive executive Marques McCammon as President.  McCammon most recently served as Global Managing Director for Ricardo, Inc., an international environmental, engineering and strategic transportation company.

At Karma, headquartered in Irvine, Calif., with an assembly plant up the road in Moreno Valley and a dealership network on four continents, McCammon assumes the role of executive lead for all corporate operations.

“We recruited Marques to execute our corporate vision to build Karma as a clean energy company that would inspire positive change in the world,” said Pin Ni, Karma Automotive board member and president of Wanxiang America, a $4 billion holding company based in Elgin, Ill. “Marques is the ideal partner to lead the company with passion and purpose while establishing a strong operational backbone.”

Wanxiang America, which has operated in the United States since 1994, purchased the assets of Fisker Automotive out of bankruptcy in 2014 and relaunched the company as Karma Automotive in 2018.

“With Marques’s extensive background in the auto industry and transportation – from technology concept to product execution – as well as work in green energy and sustainability, we are confident he will stabilize the company, expand our employee base in Irvine and grow the Karma brand throughout the U.S.,” said Ni.

McCammon has spent three decades in the transportation field, specializing in product development and software-based automotive product advancement, manufacturing, and commercial and strategic leadership. Educated at North Carolina A&T State University and the University of Michigan-Dearborn, he initially worked in powertrain development with the then-Chrysler Corporation and later helped kick-start the SRT performance marque after the Daimler-Chrysler merger.

He subsequently moved to companies including ASC, Saleen and electric car start-up Aptera, before joining Intel subsidiary Wind River, where, as general manager and vice president, he directed global software systems product development, strategy, marketing and engineering services for connected and automated vehicles. He then spent the last 3 1/2 years at Ricardo focusing on sustainable mobility solutions, unifying the global automotive business and helping to return the 100-year-old company to profitability.

“I told my first recruiter at Chrysler that my career goal was to run a start-up auto company,” says McCammon. “With Karma, that dream has come true. Their business is at a crucial turning point, but the foundation has already been created by our elegant plug-in electric GS-6. Now it’s up to my team and me to reinvigorate our brand and to create and implement alternate paths to revenue.

“First, we are renewing our commitment to ultra luxury cars that are friends of the planet and will bolster the customer experience at our dealerships.  We will be fully electric in less than a year, and in August, our all-wheel drive, all electric super coupe concept will debut. The goal: build a fleet of exotic, all electric, ultra luxury cars that help shape the movement to deliver a sustainable mobility future.”

About Karma Automotive

Karma Automotive, founded in 2014, is a Southern California based producer of luxury electric vehicles. Headquartered in Irvine, California with a production facility located in Moreno Valley, Calif., and owned by $4 billion Chinese auto conglomerate Wanxiang America in Elgin, Ill., Karma sells vehicles via its dealer network in North America, Europe, South America, and the Middle East. Karma’s Innovation and Customization Center, which opened in 2017, offers world-class engineering, design, customization, and manufacturing services along with electrification platforms. Karma’s flagship vehicle, the Revero® GT, Green Car Journal’s 2020 Luxury Green Car of the Year™, is an electric vehicle powered by dual electric motors that embodies Karma’s goal of offering leading technology with a luxury experience. In 2021 Karma announced the GS-6 Series which is also an extended-range series hybrid EV. Additionally, Karma provides commercial vehicle electrification and Customized Flexible Manufacturing services for customers in the mobility space via ‘Powered by Karma.’  Powered By Karma is the evolution of Karma’s business development group that provides business to business modular vehicle electrification solutions and services to outside customers.