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Fisker asset sale may not include name, logo

Always read the fine print before you sign the contract. That platitude is taking on new life as word comes that the winning bidder for bankrupt plug-in hybrid manufacturer Fisker may not actually earn the rights to use the company's name and logo. According to Delaware Online, that's because Fisker Automotive doesn't actually own either – they're the property of a different company called Fisker Coachbuild, LLC, and they have been used under license by the carmaker since 2008. This interesting bifurcation of assets brings to mind a previous bit of auto history - Rolls-Royce and Vickers. As it turns out, Fisker Coachbuild not only designs cars and components, it also has the merchandising rights to the Fisker name and logo for things like apparel and branded tchotchkes. How did this happen? According to the report, Coachbuild is a Fisker stockholder, and in 2008, a contract was signed by Bernhard Koehler (co-founder of Fisker and then-chief operating officer of Coachbuild) and designer and company namesake Henrik Fisker. Koehler and Fisker are actually in the logo, in a fashion, since it is supposed to represent the two men (the vertical lines) looking at the sunset (the red half circle) over the ocean (blue). Fisker Coachbuild attorneys have now put the bankruptcy court on official notice about their ownership of these key assets, and it's unclear if this news will affect the actions of leading bidders Wanxiang America, Inc. and Hybrid Tech Holdings. Coachbuild does sound somewhat conciliatory, saying "...it is likely that Coachbuild will consent to the assignment of the rights provided for under the Trademark Agreement as part of the proposed sale" while simultaneously "reserving its rights under applicable law to bar the assumption and assignment of Trademark Agreement without its prior written consent." This interesting bifurcation of assets brings to mind a previous bit of auto history. Back in 1998, British industrial conglomerate Vickers executed a now-legendary bit of wheeling-and-dealing that saw it sell the physical assets of luxury automaker Rolls-Royce to the Volkswagen Group. We say 'legendary' because it only sold the physical assets to VW – not the trademarks associated with them. Those trademarks included the Rolls-Royce name, famed double-R iconography and other assets – assets Vickers subsequently sold to BMW.

Henrik Fisker tweets rendering of Fisker pickup, then deletes

Last August, Henrik Fisker teased what looked like the rear view of a Fisker pickup truck. The caption accompanying the image of a rendered tailgate and conventional cabin glasshouse read, "After our Fisker electric SUV, we have already decided on our next 2 EV’s on the same platform!" That platform would be the same the Ocean crossover is built on. Much has happened since then, namely a gaggle of OEMs and startups debuting, announcing, or making noises about rolling out an electric pickup in the next two years or so. Perhaps Fisker got caught up in the swell, because he tweeted a new image of a pickup with the name "Alaska" emblazoned across the back, and the caption, "Electric pickup truck!" Then he deleted the tweet. When asked about the brief preview, his company told both Roadshow and Car and Driver, "We can't confirm the model or name of a vehicle that may have been seen in the tweet," but that, "We can, however, confirm that Fisker Inc. is indeed working on a modular electric vehicle platform that may underpin several different affordable EV models in the future." What we know is that Fisker's pickup design has come a long way since August, no matter how fanciful the image in the unintentional reveal. Last August's design looked like someone spent a few minutes turning a Ford F-150 backside into a passably believable Fisker product. The newest image looks like a Fisker; weighty forms with deep vertical and horizontal sculpting, decorated with Fisker's jewelry and fonts. The only off note is the tires, which are cartoonishly rugged. We're fans of the name, though, even if there's a product called Alaska in every industry from fertilizers to electric fans, and Renault sells a pickup called the Alaskan. As of writing, Fisker hasn't filed to trademark Alaska. For now, we'll pretend the tweet was a hallucination and wait for the next time Fisker teases a vehicle we know is coming.

Fisker sues Aston Martin for $100M over The Force 1

We were expecting Henrik Fisker to bring The Force 1, his next vehicle design, to next week's Detroit Auto Show, but that might not happen. In December an attorney for Aston Martin sent Fisker a letter asking the Danish designer to either not show his car in Detroit or to change the design. Fisker responded to that letter by filing $100-million civil extortion lawsuit against Aston Martin in a California Federal court, naming company CEO Andy Palmer, chief spokesman Simon Sproule, and chief creative officer Marek Reichman as defendants. Based on the overhead-view sketch, the English carmaker believes that The Force 1 is "strikingly similar to several of Aston Martin's cars, including the DB10" from the movie Spectre. At the same time the carmaker's letter to Fisker admitted that it doesn't know what the final design will look like, but it appears that the carmaker's intent to "protect its valuable rights if necessary" could not make way for patience. Or perhaps Aston Martin is trying to prevent another Thunderbolt episode before it starts. That incident last year involved the carmaker suing Fisker over his reimagined Vanquish, with the two settling the matter out of court. Fisker says The Force 1 has isn't based on an Aston Martin, and as part of the lawsuit submitted a design breakdown of both the DB10 and The Force 1. Fisker's latest is apparently in partnership with VL Automotive, the company that's been threatening to release a V8-powered Karma sedan for years now, and the Detroit show organizers say they've been working with VL, not Fisker. The lawsuit seeks the $100 million for punitive and compensatory damages and court costs, alleging that Aston Martin's actions "would subject [Fisker] to public humiliation, embarrassment in the industry, and significant financial losses." The public allegations go even further, Fisker's lawyer Jonathan Michaels saying that the English brand, "In an effort to protect itself from further market erosion... conspired and devised a scheme to stomp out Henrik Fisker's competitive presence in the luxury sports car industry." News Source: Wall Street Journal Design/Style Government/Legal Detroit Auto Show Aston Martin Fisker Coupe Luxury Performance lawsuit Henrik Fisker spectre aston martin db10