Fisker: Shifting Gears To Go Green
September 05, 2007

Southern California exotic sports carmaker, Fisker Coachbuild LLC, has shifted its business strategy from producing purely exotic high-end sports cars to ones that are environmentally friendly.

“We want people to drive beautiful fast cars that make environmental sense –- cars that are eco-chic and will have less of an impact on global warming,” said Henrik Fisker, CEO of the newly formed Fisker Automotive, Inc. Fisker is a former BMW and Aston Martin designer.

Fisker Coachbuild, LLC, with Quantum Technologies, both of Irvine, California, have formed the Fisker Automotive joint venture, which they are billing as “a green American premium car company.”

Fisker Automotive will offer a range of environmentally friendly premium cars, all plug-in hybrids. The first production car of the range will make its worldwide debut at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show in January.

Initial production of the unnamed vehicle is anticipated to be 15,000 vehicles a year, starting by 2010, with prices starting at under $100,000.

The companies said design and technology development are already under way for the first production car. All models will feature cutting-edge plug-in hybrid technology, called Quantum Drive, developed by Quantum Technologies exclusively for Fisker Automotive.

The plug-in hybrid will team an internal combustion engine and a battery-based electric drive system that can be recharged from the commercial grid via common 110-volt household current. Details and performance figures, including range on all-electric drive, are being kept under wraps, but likely will out-do Toyota’s proposed plug-in Prius with its 8-mile all-electric range.

The new plug-in Quantum Drive chassis layout will allow Fisker to design “innovative luxury cars with uncompromised proportions,” the companies announced today.

Fisker Automotive will contract with an existing private manufacturer to build its cars, the company said.

Toyota, General Motors and Ford are planning plug-in hybrids, though in affordable, non-luxury cars. The next-generation Prius will be a plug-in hybrid, due out in 2009. GM plans to bring its Chevrolet Volt out by the end of 2010. Ford has shown a concept but not detailed production plans.

Privately owned Fisker Coachbuild designs and installs new coachwork and interiors for high-end Mercedes Benz and BMW models, creating re-bodied exotics in the manner of the custom coachbuilders of the early 1900s who created new sheet metal for all types of luxury cars including Bugattis, Cadillacs, and Rolls-Royces. The company won’t release sales data but says it has delivered 13 of its Tramanto convertibles, based on the Mercedes-Benz SL, and Latigo coupes, based on the BMW 6 Series.

Quantum, which owns several chassis-building companies and specializes in clean propulsion and fuel and energy storage technologies, is developing the plug-in power plant and drive system for the Fisker. The company has built plug-in hybrid conversions of the Ford Escape Hybrid for the Southern California Air Quality Management District.

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