One-on-One with Henrik Fisker

By Ed Martinez

Published in the Fall 2009 issue of MyTekLife Magazine

Henrik Fisker is known for creating beautiful automotive designs, which include the Aston Martin DB9 and the Aston Martin V8 Vantage. You may also have seen his BMW Z8 roadster design in the James Bond film, The World is Not Enough. His new car company is taking the lead in building the first luxury hybrid cars in the U.S. without compromising design and performance. The Karma will make its debut in 2010, and the Karma Sunset in 2011.

I caught up with Fisker at Concorso Italiano 2009 in Monterey, Calif., last August.

MyTekLife: Some are saying that this is the perfect timing for Fisker Automotive. Did you plan that?

Fisker: You know, sometimes you have to be somewhat lucky. It’s a coincidence I met with the CEO of a company called Quantum Technologies. They had done a military vehicle that could go behind enemy lines and was quiet. It was kind of a hybrid. I started thinking, why not use this for a real car? It would be great! There was one problem—the components would not fit in a normal car. You have the electric motors in the back, the battery in the center of the vehicle and the normal engine in the front.

MyTekLife: How long ago was this?

Fisker: This was in 2007. At the same time, I had seen Leonardo DiCaprio show up at the Oscars with a Prius. I said, you know what, there is a market here. We can’t all be driving a Prius. Some of us want a fast, beautiful car.

MyTekLife: What about the name Karma? Is there a story behind it?

Fisker: As we started working on the vehicle, we started looking into names. I was reading something about good karma, which as you know means that you do something good today, and then tomorrow something good will happen. We build an environmental car like this today and we get a better environment in the future. I just thought that was perfect. I said that name must be taken already, so we did a Google search and also researched it. It turns out that no one had taken it, so we put a trademark on it.

MyTekLife: Do you have a distribution plan?

Fisker: We have signed up about 45 dealerships in the U.S., and we have already signed up 13 European importers as well. These dealers are putting out showrooms or modifying their existing showrooms to fit the Fisker series of cars in there. That will all take place in the beginning of next year. The first Karma out of production will be in May, with a first delivery in June.

MyTekLife: Are you planning any other models besides the Karma and the Sunset? What is your goal and how many cars do you plan to build?

Fisker: The goal is obviously to get these cars out. The Karma series of cars will have one more model. We are starting with about 15,000 a year, but the goal is to eventually get over 100,000 cars produced per year. And we are also working on a low-cost model, which will be a smaller vehicle. It will be low cost, higher production. We have applied for Department of Energy loans. We have started the business model already. There are so many secrets about it because we barely just started working on it. The Karma will be the most expensive car we do. From now on, everything else we add will be low cost.

MyTekLife: Do you have a time frame on when you think you will get an answer from the feds on a loan?

Fisker: We applied and we hope that it will be within the next few weeks.

MyTekLife: I understand that branding is very important to you. What is the one thing you want people to know Fisker Automotive for?

Fisker: I want people to say, that car is gorgeous. With most cars there is always a compromise. The goal was to build a car that can fit four people with four doors, but it would be stunning and beautiful. More beautiful than any other gasoline car in its segment, so that is where there was no compromise. The same with power—no compromise there. A fuel-efficient vehicle with no compromise.

MyTekLife: Do you think new technology can save the U.S. economy?

Fisker: I think this is our only hope at this point in time. The U.S. car industry has not been a leader in the last 34 years. A country like the U.S. with the biggest car population, at least in terms of value in the world … China may surpass those numbers, but the cost per car and investment from people is much bigger. And I think considering that this is the most important economy in the world America should be leading the car industry. I think with new technology and the support from the government, America can come back.

MyTekLife: Are you a pioneer at this?

Fisker: We are part of it. Other car companies have to come in too, and I think it’s important for others to know we can’t do it alone. People expect more with this new technology. They expect a beautiful design that has excitement. The technology is not enough; it’s got to be the whole vehicle integration and how you package this car to make it desirable.

MyTekLife: Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

Fisker: Well, hopefully on a beach somewhere enjoying life. Right now it’s 18 hours a day, seven days a week. I see myself hopefully being part of a very successful American car company that is a leader in the world.

MyTekLife: When did you first find that you had a passion for cars?

Fisker: Since I can remember. I got my first little model car … I remember a Ferrari and others that I had. Cars always amazed me, and I think it was a combination of amazing power, technology and beauty. I don’t think there is any other product in the world that we can truly say we can fall in love with the way we fall in love with cars. You don’t fall in love with a toothbrush, even an iPod or an iPhone—you don’t fall in love the same way. They’re very user-friendly and you love them in a certain way, but you don’t fall in love like you do with a car.