2012 Fisker Karma Ecostandard on 2040-cars

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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.

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.

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