Fisker Europe is based in Munich and began deliveries in February, with all European-market Karmas built in Finland by contract manufacturer Valmet. Customers in France, Italy and Germany have all had cars delivered, while the Karma was the second biggest-selling luxury car in the Netherlands for the first four months of this year, ahead of the Audi A8, Mercedes-Benz S-Class and BMW 7 Series.

The company announced the first steps towards building a Europe-wide dealer network in June, partnering with Spanish dealer group Guarnieri to market vehicles in Spain, Portugal and Morocco.  There are no UK dealers yet, but a service centre has opened for early customers.

Barny Koehler, chief executive of Fisker's European business, a co-founder of the company along with Aston Martin DB9 and V8 Vantage designer Henrik Fisker, told UK news agency Headlineauto that it was important to establish service outlets for the car first.

‘The cars are left-hand-drive only and in the short term we can handle sales from Europe but we are talking to a number of parties in the UK who are interested in establishing dealerships,’ he said.

Fisker was established in 2007, and the Karma is its first model. This uses a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine to power a generator, charging the battery when it runs low on power. The powertrain produces 397bhp and 959lb.ft of torque, passing 62mph in 6.3 seconds from rest, yet emits only 53g/km CO2.