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Fisker looking to hire 37 at career fair this week

Fisker Automotive appears to be kicking off its first round of hiring in Southern California since the high-end extended-range plug-in vehicle company went belly-up two years ago. The company, which is based in Costa Mesa, CA, says it wants to hire about three-dozen people at a job fair in California's Riverside County this week, according to local paper the Press-Enterprise. Fisker is building a 556,000-square-foot plant in the city of Moreno Valley, which is about 60 miles east of Los Angeles. The hirings are part of a job fair that is being put on by the Moreno Valley Employment Resource Center. Fisker will pay as much as $26 an hour for positions in the factory's body shop as well as some mechanical and quality-assurance positions. Fisker is looking to eventually bring in 150 full-time workers as early as next year. The company is said to already employ about 200 people at its home offices. Those interested in the factory positions can find job descriptions at rivcoworkforce.com. Reports about the new Fisker factory started surfacing in June. The company, which is now owned by China-based Wanxiang, is believed to be working on a revised Karma model called the Elux. Fisker built about 2,600 of its Karma plug-in vehicles before halting production in 2012 and going bankrupt a year later. Wanxiang acquired Fisker out of bankruptcy in early 2014 for $149.2 million. Since then, the company has launched a site called thenewfisker.com. The site is designed to offer parts and service of the Karma vehicles. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2012 Fisker Karma: First Drive View 23 Photos News Source: Press-Enterprise Green Plants/Manufacturing Fisker Hybrid California wanxiang karma employment job

Fisker Pear to get 'see-through' A-pillar and hopped-up Extreme trim

Fisker put a Pear on display at the L.A. Auto show in production spec. The latest display came with a few more updates on the urban EV planned to enter production at the end of next year at Foxconn's plant in Lordstown, Ohio. The first new bit is what's being called a "see-through A-pillar." The only car we've ever seen with an actual see-through A-pillar was the 2001 Volvo Safety Car Concept, the feature not making it to production on the C30 hatchback, regrettably. On the Pear, the see-through bit is performed by cameras projecting the view obscured by the A-pillars onto small screens located inside the cabin where the instrument panel meets the doors. These screens would also help explain Fisker's desire to sell the Pear with side-view cameras in the U.S., since the screens are already there. The displays weren't shown in the photos Fisker released in August, but they were in the auto show car. The automaker again noted there will be two battery options, the smaller with an urban-centric estimated range of 180 miles, the larger Hyper Range pack aiming at an estimated 320 miles. The press release says the little crossover targets "a base 0-60 mph time of 6.3 seconds." We don't know if "base" in this case means the quickest time among the two trims, two drivetrains — RWD and AWD, and 20-inch wheels on all-season tires or 22-inch wheels on high-performance tires, or if it refers to the base model's smaller battery pack. Either way, seems there's a quicker option coming, Fisker mentioning a high-performance trim called the Pear Extreme.  We're treated to some tech specs on the Blade computer that's the brains of the Pear, but we're still waiting to find out what the promised processing and wireless data speeds will mean for the user experience. When introducing the Alaska pickup and the Pear to the audience, Henrik Fisker seems to have described the Blade as being two computers and called it "the latest, newest standard of the world." One aspect not mentioned in the PR is what looks like a projected gauge cluster. The Pear in the photos from August fitted a slightly different instrument panel than the car at the show. At 1:22 in a walkaround video Fiskerati shot at the L.A. show, the Pear's dashboard appears to show vehicle information projected onto the instrument panel behind the steering wheel.

Henrik Fisker moves on from designing hybrids to superyachts

Henrik Fisker has announced a number of projects since parting ways with his namesake hybrid automobile brand. Most of them revolve, as you might expect, around four wheels. He even did one with two wheels last year, but now he's branching out into superyachts. The partnership announced between Fisker and Italian shipyard Benetti will see the Danish designer pen a new line of yachts measuring 164 feet long. That's roughly the distance covered by ten Karmas parked end to end. Benetti is designing the essential architecture of the vessels, while Fisker will be responsible for its styling inside and out. His vision is previewed by the simple sketch above, sent to Autoblog by a Benetti representative, who tells us that the complete design will be presented this coming February at the Miami International Boat Show. Details are still to come, but Benetti says the superyachts will include "carbon fiber and other exotic materials, as well as optimized ocean views from all major cabins and use reclaimed wood, integrated solar panels and optional hybrid power." The design will be split across three decks incorporating a "beach club" at the rear, on-board spa, a pool, six guest cabins, accommodation for 11 crew members, and technological advancements including automated controls. The Benetti collaboration is just the latest in many upon which Fisker has embarked lately. His recent work includes the Galpin Rocket, the aborted Aston Martin Thunderbolt, and two new vehicles to be unveiled in Detroit next month. These in addition to noteworthy creations highlighting his portfolio including the BMW Z8, Aston Martin DB9, and, of course, his eponymous luxury hybrid sedan. While naval architecture may be new territory for Fisker, this isn't the first time we've seen an automotive designer dip his toes in the water to design a yacht. McLaren design chief Frank Stephenson, for example, recently revealed his own wooden runabout with electric power, and Ian Callum penned a concept speedboat for Jaguar. The design divisions at BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche have dabbled in naval architecture as well, and both Bugatti and Aston Martin recently licensed their names to high-end motorboats too. However Fisker's design will be much bigger than most when it hits the open water.