Fisker Coachbuild was a car design firm based in

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, ...

. The company produced custom

luxury cars A luxury car is a car that provides increased levels of comfort, equipment, amenities, quality, performance, and associated status compared to moderately priced cars. The term is subjective and reflects both the qualities of the car and the ...

. It produced the Tramonto and Latigo CS. It also designed and manufactured aftermarket parts such as aluminum alloy wheels, engine covers and interior trim packages for select luxury vehicles. Fisker Coachbuild also provided design services for companies in the automotive industries.

History

The company was founded by partners,

Henrik Fisker Henrik Fisker (born 10 August 1963) is a Danish automotive designer and entrepreneur based in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for designing luxury cars including the BMW Z8, Aston Martin DB9, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Fisker Karma, ...

and Bernhard Koehler in January 2005. In 2007, Fisker Coachbuld merged with electric vehicle company Quantum Technologies to form

Fisker Automotive Fisker Automotive was an American company known for producing the Fisker Karma, which was one of the world's first production luxury plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. It debuted at the 2008 North American International Auto Show, and first ...

Cars

Fisker Tramonto

The Fisker Tramonto is a hand-built sports car, launched in 2005. Original production was scheduled to be limited to 150 pieces worldwide, but only 15 were ever built. It used the base architecture of the

Mercedes-Benz SL The Mercedes-Benz SL-Class (marketed as Mercedes-AMG SL since 2022) is a grand touring sports car manufactured by Mercedes-Benz since 1954. The designation ''SL'' derives from the German ''Sport-Leicht'' (English: Sport Light). Initially, the ...

, retaining the engineering and safety features of the original car. However, unlike the original, the Tramonto had a slimmer back end, a longer hood line and no visual bumpers. This look was created using a variety of different materials. The interior of the Tramonto was hand trimmed and hand stitched using Italian leather. Each car was built in California and was individually numbered. The Tramonto used the hand-built AMG power plant and customers had the choice of 8-cylinder or 12-cylinder engines. The Tramonto has a time of 3.6 seconds for the V-8 and 3.2 for the V-12. The top speed is for the V8 and over for the V-12. The only Tramonto V-12 built (car 15 of 15) had an output of and of torque.

Fisker Latigo CS

The Fisker Latigo CS, the second design from Fisker Coachbuild, was initially shown at the 2005 Frankfurt Motor Show, and was subsequently launched in 2007 with production limited to 150 worldwide. It uses the base architecture of the BMW 6 Series and M6. As in the Tramonto, all electronic and safety systems remain untouched. The car is built in California using the most advanced materials in carbon fiber, aluminum, stainless steel and magnesium alloy. The Latigo CS interior is hand trimmed and hand stitched using Italian furniture leather and each car is individually numbered. Fisker uses the V-10 BMW power plant to power the Latigo CS. Fisker also teamed with RDsport to provide broader tuning choices for their customers. The reduced weight and increased engine output results in a time of 3.9 seconds and top speed of . Fisker Coachbuild manufactures cars to the exact specifications of a customer and do not carry cars in inventory. The first, and last delivery was September 2007.

Fisker performance wheels

Henrik Fisker also designed 20 inch 3-piece aluminum alloy wheels. The 5-spoke model known as the FT-5, is originally designed for the Tramonto and the 10-spoke model known as the FL-10 was designed for the Latigo CS. The company announced that these performance wheels are now offered for BMW and Mercedes-Benz models. Various finishes and colors are offered through Fisker with their wheel designs and are equipped with

Michelin Michelin (; ; full name: ) is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes ''région'' of France. It is the second largest tyre manufacturer in the world behind Bridgestone and larg ...

PS2 tires.

External design projects

Fisker Coachbuild designed the Artega GT sports car for the German-based company Artega. It carried a badge which read – "Designed by Fisker Coachbuild."

Joint ventures

was a joint venture between Quantum Technologies and Fisker Coachbuild formed in 2007. All models will feature cutting-edge

plug-in hybrid A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is a hybrid electric vehicle whose battery pack can be recharged by plugging a charging cable into an external electric power source, in addition to internally by its on-board internal combustion engin ...

technology penned as Quantum Drive, developed by Quantum Technologies exclusively for Fisker Automotive.

References

External links

Official web site

Fisker Automotive
: * http://www.calcars.org/calcars-news/842.html
Quantum Technologies
* Archive.or
FiskerCB.com
(2005) {{Henrik Fisker Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers Coachbuilders of the United States Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 2005 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 2007 Defunct manufacturing companies based in California Plug-in hybrid vehicles Henrik Fisker fi:Fisker Automotive