2023 Fisker Ocean on 2040-cars

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Aston Martin sues Henrik Fisker over Thunderbolt design

Imitation is supposedly the sincerest form of flattery, but Aston Martin isn't blushing after taking a look at the Fisker Thunderbolt. The british luxury brand has filed a lawsuit against the designer for allegedly copying the company's designs without permission in a US District Court in California. Fisker unveiled the Thunderbolt at the at the 2015 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance as his own take on the Vanquish. The former Aston Martin stylist's changes included reshaping the grille, adding a power dome to the hood and incorporating wraparound rear glass. The version on display was a concept for the design, but the plan was to sell a slightly modified production version through Galpin Aston Martin. This lawsuit puts assembly in doubt. "This lawsuit centres on Henrik Fisker's creation and promotion of automobiles that Aston Martin contends infringes Aston Martin's rights, by an improper and unauthorised attempt to exploit and free-ride off them," said a portion of a prepared statement from the company emailed to Autoblog (embedded in full below). According to Bloomberg, the automaker claims in the suit that portions of the design, including "the famous Aston Martin mark, wings logo, side vent mark, and Vanquish mark" are being coping in Fisker's design. The business also calls the plan to change the design for the production version a "bait-and-switch." Fisker helped to shape the look of the Aston Martin DB9 and V8 Vantage during his time as a designer at the brand. "Today Aston Martin filed a lawsuit in the state of California to protect its valuable trade marks, designs and intellectual property rights. This lawsuit centres on Henrik Fisker's creation and promotion of automobiles that Aston Martin contends infringes Aston Martin's rights, by an improper and unauthorised attempt to exploit and free-ride off them. Aston Martin regards such conduct as wholly unacceptable and reserves all rights available at law to challenge it."

Fisker Ocean goes prepper, teasing hardcore off-roader for 2021

Fisker Automotive's battery-electric Ocean crossover is a year away, with production scheduled for 2021. It's silly to think we won't hear any more about the Ocean until then, though. Eponymous honcho Henrik Fisker hit up Twitter to tease two versions of a much meatier Ocean. Both designs sit on gratuitously broad, knobby tires that require a widebody treatment in order to fit entirely under the crossover. On one design, the only other change is a spare tire placed in the roof rack. On the second version, the roof rack is empty, but the tailgate carries a shovel and contains a small door labeled "Charging Box." In the tweets, Fisker writes he's "found an amazing space for the spare tire, that could only be done with an EV!! Not the roof, in sketch! Will reveal next week."    This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Fisker tagged the tweets with "adventure" and "Extreme Rescues," indications of the individual, NGO, and military aspirations for the model. He told Top Gear magazine, "The low center of gravity and wide track brings added stability and makes the Fisker Ocean a perfect clean sustainable utility vehicle, that can be used by international organisations, which needs to deploy rescue vehicles in rural areas, it can also be used as a zero emission military version to transport military personnel, as oil is one of the largest expenses for the military." Back to the mystery of spare tire placement, the CEO wrote that the space is not in the cargo area nor in the frunk. This doesn't leave many EV-specific options, especially since it's crucial to keep spare tires where they can be easily extracted when off-road, but we'll wait for the big reveal for the answer. Should the Ocean off-roader get its debut next year, it will enter a segment that's picking up more competitors by the month, both EV and internal combustion. If Fisker can launch his standard Ocean for $37,000, and price the adventure Ocean not far off that, he'll at least have a clear value victory over other makers like Rivian, Bollinger, and the premium pricing we expect for a 1,000-horsepower Hummer EV. Related Video:    

Auto startups chasing Tesla race past red flags to go public

Missed out on the Tesla rally but still want to surf the electric vehicle wave? A stream of EV-related startups backed by blank-check firms is lining up to go public so there are plenty of choices. But like Tesla in the early days, few have products ready to sell or any likelihood of generating significant revenue anytime soon. Instead, investors will be relying on rosy production, sales and revenue forecasts for new cars, trucks and batteries, all set to be jostling for a slice of markets that will be far more crowded than when Tesla's cars first hit the road. Take Fisker Inc, for example. It was launched in 2016, just three years after the bankruptcy of its predecessor and early Tesla rival Fisker Automobile. In July, Fisker Inc announced a $2.9 billion reverse merger deal with Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp, a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), and is planning to go public later this year. It has no revenue and its Fisker Ocean electric sports-utility vehicle (SUV) is at least two years away from production in a project heavily dependent on nailing down deals with partners who will build the car and provide key components. That's not particularly unique for young companies in the sector looking to use SPACs to go public and bypass the scrutiny of a traditional IPO process, according to company presentations and interviews with executives and investors. That also didn't seem to be an issue earlier this year when U.S. electric truck maker Nikola Motors used a SPAC to go public. Shares in the company that hopes to generate revenue next year almost trebled after listing on the Nasdaq exchange. But they slumped when a short-seller questioned whether founder Trevor Milton had made false claims about Nikola's technology, forcing the 38-year-old entrepreneur to step down as executive chairman — and making some investors more cautious. Nikola and Milton have publicly rejected the accusations and have threatened to take legal action against the short-seller, Hindenberg Research. "Good storytelling is an important component of being a good founder and entrepreneur — but it better not be the only component," says Evangelos Simoudis, managing partner and founder of startup investor Synapse Partners. 'IT'S A FORECAST' Fisker Inc's founder Henrik Fisker is well known in the industry for designing sports cars such as Aston Martin's Vantage, and for his failed EV firm Fisker Automobile that went bust in 2013 after burning through more than $1 billion.