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Henrik Fisker Sees a Big Market Shift in the Future, Blames It on the EVs

Henrik Fisker is the kind of man who needs no introduction despite the fact his most remarkable accomplishments are way back in the past, dating to the times he was designing sports cars for Aston Martin or BMW.
Fisker EMotion teaser 1 photo
Photo: Fisker Inc
His car companies, on the other hand, have rather been feeding on that initial success than taking it further. His most recent and most renowned flop was the Fisker Karma - a luxury four-door vehicle that was hard to describe in one word (it was kind of a cross between a GT and a limousine, we guess). It used a plug-in range-extended electric powertrain and was backed heavily by Hollywood A-lister Leonardo Di Caprio, but in the end, they still had to close down shop after a limited number of deliveries.

Nowadays, Henrik Fisker is busy promoting his latest startup and the battery-powered EV it plans on introducing this summer: the EMotion. Actually, calling it battery-powered is not entirely correct since the sedan is believed to use hybrid super-capacitors, a type of energy storage that allows much quicker charging and discharging cycles with the tradeoff being a lower density.

The EMotion is expected to have a 161 mph top speed limit (260 km/h), and a maximum range of 400 miles (644 km). It also uses lightweight materials extensively such as carbon fiber and aluminum, which means the price tag should be well beyond that of a Tesla Model S, the official prime competitor of his future EV.

In an interview with Electrek, Fisker talked about the challenges posed by the new face of the automotive market and what he expects to happen in the future. Predictably, he pinpointed design as one of the key factors, but it's not just about personal preference as he makes a valid point about it.

Design is going to be increasingly important,” he says. “When you move to electric vehicles, you’re not interacting anymore with a complex mechanical gasoline engine where the engine noise and response varies extremely from different car companies. So I think values from buyers in the future are going to shift."

He sure is betting on design with the new EMotion, but from what we've seen so far, he might have put his money on the wrong number. The EV he plans to market looks different alright, but we all know that's not always a good thing. However, that's what Fisker does.

Being out there and taking a risk, sometimes you get beaten a little bit for it, but I think that’s an exciting thing in the car business – that we’re able to move forward in probably a new way,” Fisker says. “There’s still a lot of new opportunities.”

After all, it's not like he's the kind of man that's scared by a mere bankruptcy, right?
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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