Fisker

Fisker Latigo CS

Henrik Fisker (born 10 August 1963) is a Danish automotive designer and entrepreneur based in Los Angeles, California, US. He is best known as the founder of Fisker Automotive and Fisker Inc, and as a designer of luxury cars. After working at BMW, Ford, and Aston Martin, Fisker founded Fisker Automotive in 2007. The company failed to meet production deadlines despite significant federal and private investment. Fisker resigned in 2013. The New York Times described the company as the "Solyndra of the electric car industry" and a "debacle". He then became the CEO of Fisker Inc., which he co-founded with his wife in 2016; the company filed for bankruptcy in 2024.

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Early life and education

Fisker was born in Allerød, Denmark. As a young boy he became interested in cars after seeing a Maserati Bora on the highway, and soon started sketching designs in notebooks. He graduated with a degree in transportation design from the Art Center College of Design in Vevey, Switzerland, in 1989.

Career

=== Early career === BMW. In 1989, Fisker began working at BMW Technik, the company's advanced design studio in Munich. His first project he collaborated was the E1 electric concept car, designed by Mark Clarke. From 1992 to 1997, he refined the Z07 concept car, which would become the BMW Z8 roadster, produced from 1999 to 2003. The car combined design elements from the company's past with a modern look, paying homage to the BMW 507 (produced from 1956 to 1959). Fisker also worked on the design of BMW's first SUV, a mid-size luxury crossover introduced in 1999, the X5. From 1999 to 2001, Fisker was the president and chief executive officer of Designworks, a BMW industrial design studio headquartered in Newbury Park, California. Ford, Aston Martin, and others. Fisker left BMW for the Ford Motor Company in 2001, where he served as design director at Aston Martin. He was in charge of the production design of the Aston Martin DB9 (in production from 2004 to 2016), bringing in elements from the history of Aston Martin cars. The DB9 was available as both a coupe and a convertible. Fisker also designed the Aston Martin V8 Vantage (in production from 2005 to 2018). It was named the coolest car of the year and the best sounding car of the year by Top Gear in 2005. The Vantage is the best selling Aston Martin of all time. The extent of Fisker's involvement in designing both the DB9 and V8 Vantage has been disputed, however, with former director of design at Aston Martin Ian Callum saying the two cars were largely designed under his watch before Fisker joined the company. From September 2001 to August 2003, Fisker was creative director of Ingeni, Ford's London-based design and creativity center. In August 2003, he became the director of Ford's Global Advanced Design Studio in Irvi

Controversies

=== Tesla Motors v. Fisker Coachbuild (2008) === On 14 April 2008, Tesla Motors filed a lawsuit against Fisker Coachbuild, Fisker and Koehler, contending that they had fraudulently agreed to a design contract in 2007 only to gain access to confidential information, before announcing a competing vehicle, the Fisker Karma. Both the Tesla and Fisker vehicles in question were designed as serial hybrid cars, with a gas engine powering a generator that charges a battery to power the electric motor, and both were initially planned for delivery in 2010. The lawsuit sought to prevent Fisker from using Tesla design documents, along with a return of the money from the Tesla contract, plus punitive damages. Fisker filed for arbitration in May 2008. An arbitrator ruled in their favour in November 2008, finding "overwhelming" evidence showing that Fisker did not do anything wrong. Subsequently, Tesla was ordered to pay US$1.14 million in legal fees and costs to Fisker. Fisker Automotive congressional hearing (2013). Following his resignation from Fisker Automotive in March 2013, Fisker voluntarily testified on 24 April 2013, at a congressional hearing led by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on the Department of Energy's $192 million disbursement to Fisker Automotive through the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program. Fisker Automotive had failed earlier that week to meet the deadline for repayment on the loan, which was originally approved as a $529 million loan guarantee. Fisker v. Aston Martin (2015–16). On 4 January 2016, Fisker filed a suit against Aston Martin and three of its executives for US$100 million in damages for civil extortion, claiming that his former employer was trying to prevent him from unveiling his new luxury sports car hybrid

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Sources

Wikidata — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5455191CC0 1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrik_FiskerCC BY-SA 4.0 · Text © Wikipedia contributors; revision 1372334692 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fisker_Latigo_CS.jpgPublic domain · Photo: Adam Scott Kelly · retrieved 2026-10-01
Car Model Index — https://models.autoculturesociety.com/Compiled record. Sources that do not permit reuse are not copied; this index is credited instead.