August 20th, 2011
08:00 AM ET
Leo DiCaprio first to drop $100k on rare hybridLeonardo DiCaprio is environmentally conscious, but he’s also a movie star. The "Inception" actor has shelled out over $100,000 for the 2012 Fisker Karma hybrid, possibly the most sought-after hybrid car on the market. The Los Angeles Times reports on DiCaprio's new ride, noting that the star is upgrading from his practical Toyota Prius, which can go from zero to sixty in 10.1 seconds. The Karma can get there in 5.9.
And of course, the Fisker Karma looks a little better. TMZ snapped a photo of the actor checking out his new model. Car designer Henrik Fisker told Reuters in 2009 that seeing DiCaprio with his Prius helped inspire his new hybrid. "He could have bought any car in the world," Fisker said, "and I remember seeing that on television and thinking to myself, you know, when you've got a guy who could buy any Ferrari or Rolls-Royce and he's buying a Prius, you know something is changing dramatically." The car, which is sold out until early 2012, debuts at the end of this month. After DiCaprio gets the first set of keys, Al Gore and Colin Powell will reportedly have their own Karma hybrids. Despite its outrageous price tag, the Fisker Karma hybrid isn’t even the most expensive hybrid car out there. That would be the Porsche 918 Spyder hybrid, which will set you back about $845,000. It may be a lot, but just think how environmentally conscious you’d be!
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100,000 for a hunk of sh!t, but he can afford to do it as a cute statement.
Just remember Johnny Carson bought a DeLorean and we know how well they did.
How does this compare to the Telsa Roaster, that has been for sale now for years?
Right On – Technically even walking is not carbon neutral. As we exhale, we emit CO2 as well...
At last, we are embracing a new age that will dwraf the Big Oil companies and close their think tanks (no pun intended).
don't forget the Leaf by Nissan (car of the year 2011) can power your home.
Go Green Cars! The new age is now!
You do realize that the only way that the Leaf by Nissan will power your home is by resupplying it with electricity that originally came FROM the home (stored in it's batteries, and then retapped if you had a power outage), or by burning the gasoline in it's fuel tank (the Nissan Leaf has a gas powered generator in it which powers the electric motors after the battery is depleted). That feature is NOT a green feature, merely a convenience feature.
Why do multi-hundred-thousand-dollar cost so much? Is the money going into more expensive materials, extra-high wages for the employees who assemble them on a smaller scale, or just the designer's pocket?
*multi-hundred-thousand-dollar cars
That's a hot car, bro!
it's great that tesla can build a car that goes over a hundred mph, if only it would run for 300 miles
Gas vs Electric is not the issue we have hit the worlds Peak oil everything we use has oil in it you can have a 100% electric car but it still takes 7 barrels worth of oil to make the tires and more for the paints,polymers etc..
Look @ the tar sands we are using 300x's more energy with Natural Gas just to burn the tar and retrieve the oil it is so stupid yet we have to do it...why because the Saudis have reached the Peak (point where the amount of oil we use vs amount available) and are now in a steady decline. The govenments will never let this truth become major news as this would create HUGE instability.
Karma:what goes around comes around.
Mr. Fisker is laughing all the way to the bank and the liberals in Hollywood who are the only people that can afford to buy these cars get to feel good about themselves because they are saving the world. Somehow this is supposed to impress the rest of us and we are to be eternally grateful for them having given up their ability to drive other high end non-hybrid vehicles. I'm impressed...NOT! Leo needs to put his money elsewhere...like feeding hungry kids in the area where he lives. As for Al Gore, people have made him more of a millionnaire than he already was by buying off on all that greenhouse gas bull. Meanwhile, guess who jetsets all over the planet more times than we could count on all our hands and feet. Let's see now, are those hybrid jets that you guys use??
Technology always starts out expensive and goes to the early adopters, then mass production kicks in and becomes available to the masses. The $2000 computer processor of 2009 is the $200 dollar computer processor of today. In the 50s a sub-10 second 0-60 was great. Nowadays you need to be sub 5 (or even 4 by some measures) to be in the top tier. Technology advances. I really wish people would stop being such luddites. If you could take it upon yourself for just one moment of your life to stop being such a jealous skeptic and realize we can all rise up and advance, the world would be much further along.
I think it's cool because he's famous and all and it has Electrolytes. Everyone should get one for free from the government. That will sure help the environment and the economy and our President!
I know what Leonardo Dicaprio looks like......now where's a picture of the $100,000 hybrid .
Well its a good thing that most of you are not creating the new cars because the roads would look like Cuba with cars from the 50s rolling around. Forget the politics or moral issues. If you call yourself a car person and cant stand the thought of a vehicle powered with anything but an ICE you should really read up on the history of vehicles. The Nascar formula has an expiration date, it was in the 90s. For that matter most racing is behind the curve which has never happened in its history. Its sad really. Racing should be leading the way, way up front.
It's all about power density. As long as gasoline contains more energy/lb than competing solutions it will continue to be the fuel of choice for anything except one-off specialty races like solar or electric.
Ironically, Leo is finally reaping the rewards from his pushing the Prius over a decade ago. Back then, SUV's and horsepower were all the rage, and no one knew whether eco-cars, especially battery-electric hybrids, would ever, ever catch on. In fact, for the first 6 years, Toyota actually took a loss on every Prius sold. Yet they stuck with it because it was the right thing to do and, 2 million Priuses later, Toyota has proven that people are willing to trade in power for efficiency. They created a new market, creating business for everyone, including Fisker. Now, with Fisker and Tesla, you don't even have to give up horsepower anymore. But it all started with the lowly Prius 12 years ago, and you gotta give Toyota–and, of course, Leo–a lot of credit. Carbon credits!
Actually Bob, it started long before the Prius. Before Henry Ford, mass production, and oil pipelines, there were more electric vehicles on the road than vehicles with combustion engines. Before petro was widely available, cars ran on whale fat.
Starting in late 2012 the Fisker Nina will cost under $50,000 for a car assembled in a plant that was shuttered by GM when its Saturn division closed.
Yup and that's about when I plan on closing on that ocean front property in Arizona.
I'm glad that he has the money for a $100K car when there are millions of un-rich Americans trying to make ends meet...
What is it with incongruent comments like this?
@confused I didnt think you were mean. when you get your first car go with a really good used car from a dealer. They are less expensive and you dont need a gigantic car payment right off the bat. This was my first new car and I was 32 when I got it. No Im not a car dealer I just learned this along the way. Happy driving!
Sorry. I have never bought a car. Call me blonde. I have my license and drive my parents car. I just was truly confused about the years. Now I know ! Thank you ! P.S. I wasn't trying to be mean
@Car Buff you won't be disappointed. Mine has 187,000 miles on it and it just had the first brake job. Paint looks great, no electrical problems, etc. I do change the oil every 5,000 miles and coolant flush every other year and transmission flush every other year btween coolant flush. 🙂 @confused the next model years come out starting Sept/Oct of the current year. Mine had 6 miles on it when I got it 🙂
**yawn** as I unlock the door to my Kia Spectra and hop in... it too gets GREAT gas mileage! ;o)
The Chevy Volt is very good , Can hardly wait for the larger(Impala type) hybrids. The Leaf sucks, we are only getting 65 to 70 miles a charge. Biggest drawback right now>>>> cost!! The 2012 Volt will be LESS expensive than the 2011 Volt. The Ford Escape small S.U.V. is another choice albeit Expensive one.
This whole "green" movement is a farce. The only thing green about me is sometime, my doo doo.
@alecia how do you buy a 99 in 98 ?
New models always come out at the end of the previous year. Never bought a car?
@alecia I have heard those toyotas get 2OO,OOO miles easy. Good choice. I have nothing but problems with my 3OOm. Toyota for me next time.
@Anne feel free to waste 100,000.000 on a car. I paid 19,000.00 for my 1999 Toyota Camry in 1998 and will drive it til it goes no more!
Congratulations on your very sensible automotive choice, but please don't pretend that the only difference between your $20K Camry, and this $100K beautiful sports car is the ability of the later to run on electricity. It's not. No one is suggesting that this car will fill the needs of everyone in the market to buy a car. But when compared to other cars of this caliber, it isn't all that outrageously priced. Too expensive for most, of course, but that doesn't mean it might not be a good choice for those who would have otherwise chosen a $100K+ gasoline powered sports car. I for one, hope that this type of technology gets implemented in all price ranges.
So your point is that you were able to waste only 19K while he wasted 100K. Got it.
@justathought its amazing how many enviormentalist will protect a shrub before protecting another human, even children. Not all of em are like that, just enough to make you wonder..
Soon there will be 7,000,000,000 (seven billion) people on earth. How many blue whales are there? How many tigers? According to Answers.com, about 3200 tigers of all kinds, or about 2 million humans for each tiger. Maybe the life of a tiger is more valuable than the life of a few humans?
Humans seem to be adequately protected and are continuing to reproduce at an entirely unsustainable rate – all 7 billion of them. You needn't worry. And what do you mean by protect a shrub over a human? Protect which from which? Are you stating we need to protect the humans from the vicious, systemic attacks perpetrated by all those evil shrubbery? Your comment doesn't even make sense.
I thnk enviromentalist would just like you to believe what they want you to believe without considering the ramifications
So do oil companies and stock brokers. You have to put some effort into investigating things for yourself.
Yeah I'd like to see you try and race me in that lil ol hybrid. C-ya!!
Actually, both the Fisker and the Tesla get extremely impressive performance.
It's not perfect but it GETS PEOPLE TALKING about alternative fuel choices...maybe someday we can all own an eco-friendly car !!
Good Lord I hope not...
I did a project on this !! We were looking at mpgs of different types of vehicles and the fisker karma got something outrageous like 100 mpg or something like that. worth the money, I say
Good morning peace, moondancer and starrfire! My question is once all cars will be required to be electric (and you know they will do it) what is going to be the power source to generate all this electricity that will be needed to charge these non-recyclable batteries-as rehe2w pointed out?
The claim that these batteries are non-recyclable is, simply put, an attempted snow job. Look it up for yourself.
Although you are correct that the electricity DOES have to come from something else, the advantage is these "point sources" (large electrical generation plants) can control their pollution emissions much more efficiently than can be done on millions of automobiles. Furthermore, if someone wants to be REALLY environmentally conscious, they can put PV solar panels on the roof of their home to supply the electricity needs of both the home, and the cars. Stop being such a killjoy. No solution will solve 100% of our problems in one step. That doesn't mean that all incremental improvements should be dismissed. They shouldn't, they should be encouraged.
Tesla doesn't build hybrids. They build 100% fully electric cars. If you're really really want to make a significant impact on the environment, going fully electric is the way to go!
Oh sure electric is nice, except one small problem. Where's the energy coming from that allows you to recharge it? The U.S. still gets most of it's energy via coal burning. Until we resolve that small problem, there really is no such thing as an environmentally friendly auto.
Allen;
At present, there is NO perfectly environment friendly energy source for transportation or electrical power generation. They ALL have their downside, from coal to oil, natural gas, nuclear, solar, hydro, wind, tidal, geothermal, etc. But some can be worse than others.
Actually most of us were blessed with truely carbon free transportation. 2 legs and 2 feet. Beat that.
I own my own home, but don't have a garage. The only parking available is on the street and I can't always find a space in front of my house. How would I recharge?
Except for that little problem called range. (Although, admittedly, range on the Tesla is excellent. It cannot be used for a cross country trip.) This car gets around that by storing enough juice for (I think) a 50 mile battery only range, which would handle many people's round trip commute, 100% electrically powered, but then if you need to make a longer occasional trip, it would just switch over to gas/hybrid power. To me, this sounds like the best of both worlds. At least until ubiquitous quick-charging stations are scattered across the U.S. Highway system, and reliably mapped into navigation systems, so you can be sure you can find them.
Howdy everyone! Go green (in all things!) Lol.... have great weekend!
The most annoying thing about these Hybrids, is yes, they do run on less fuel but, the batteries they use cannot be recycled at all. So they will be contaminating the earth for the 50,000 years. Now that is annoying to me!
Apparently you know NOTHING about hybrid batteries. They will certainly be recycled; the rare earth metals alone are very valuable.
You no nothing about batteries. The most recycled product in the United States are car batteries.
Sorry,
You know nothing about batteries. The product with the highest percentage of recycling in the United States is the automotive battery.
learn something about batteries before you make yourself a further, insulting ignoramus.
If you say it on the internet, it must be true.
Awwww, thanks starrfire! 🙂 You, too! BTW, yes it is annoying! Next life...maybe? Lol
Good morning, peace! It's annoying, isn't it? The poor can't afford the car nor the gas. Have a great day! 🙂
Sure it's a hybrid, but, by the time ya pay for it, is it worth the gas savings in the end? Well, for the rich I guess that's just a "drop in the bucket"! (Must be nice) Pretty car, though! Oh, firsty!!! LOL !
I've been researching and working on hybrid automotive technology for twenty years. The technology still isn't there. They are worse for the environment due to the hundreds if not thousands of pounds of toxic battery waste while still burning fossil fuels for the combustion engine. On top of that, restrictions keep manufacturers from going full steam ahead to preserve the oil-based world economies.
Hybrid is this what the gas and oil companies pay you to say?
It's a first step to begin changing the oil matrix, along with its supply chain, like pushing a new economy, probably much better!
Let's just hope we can achieve affordably the fusion reactor! Who knows, maybe in 10 years, that would be great!
But we need more support for R&D, more graduates in nuclear and engineering and less people downgrading what is actually done nowadays!