Photo: Galpin Aston Martin
Well, we didn’t see that coming but after the recent quarrel between Aston Martin and Porsche over the GT3 badge, the automotive industry is on the verge of giving birth to a new type of bullying.
We won’t insist on the recently-ended beef between Porsche and Aston Martin, which was settled after Porsche received owning right on the GT3 name. Today is about Aston Martin hitting at Henrik Fisker for creating the Thunderbolt prototype.
The British carmaker is claiming that their former design director’s Thunderbolt concept is an unauthorized copy of the Aston Martin Vanquish. There’s something funny about the timing of such accusations, since Aston Martin just ended a feud with Porsche and Henrik Fisker’s limited-production car was already unveiled two weeks ago at the 2015 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.
According to Autonews, Aston Martin officials pointed a finger at “Fisker’s bad-faith intent to free-ride off the tremendous goodwill associated with the famous Aston Martin mark, wings logo, side vent mark and Vanquish mark [...].”
Moreover, the Gaydon-based brand says that Fisker uses bait-and-switch tactics - a scheme that allows customers to be ‘baited’ by products wearing a low price tag, but when they decide to buy, they discover that those respective goods are not available anymore so they are pressured to take into consideration and buy more expensive alternatives to those products.
In other words, the prototype is actually based on the DB9 or the DBS instead of the Vanquish. By connecting the prototype to the Vanquish moniker, Fisker would have tried to link the Thunderbolt to a new model in Aston Martin’s range.
Which kind of makes sense, since the Thunderbolt can be ordered for around $400,000 by contacting Galpin Aston Martin sales reps.
The British carmaker is claiming that their former design director’s Thunderbolt concept is an unauthorized copy of the Aston Martin Vanquish. There’s something funny about the timing of such accusations, since Aston Martin just ended a feud with Porsche and Henrik Fisker’s limited-production car was already unveiled two weeks ago at the 2015 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.
According to Autonews, Aston Martin officials pointed a finger at “Fisker’s bad-faith intent to free-ride off the tremendous goodwill associated with the famous Aston Martin mark, wings logo, side vent mark and Vanquish mark [...].”
Moreover, the Gaydon-based brand says that Fisker uses bait-and-switch tactics - a scheme that allows customers to be ‘baited’ by products wearing a low price tag, but when they decide to buy, they discover that those respective goods are not available anymore so they are pressured to take into consideration and buy more expensive alternatives to those products.
In other words, the prototype is actually based on the DB9 or the DBS instead of the Vanquish. By connecting the prototype to the Vanquish moniker, Fisker would have tried to link the Thunderbolt to a new model in Aston Martin’s range.
Which kind of makes sense, since the Thunderbolt can be ordered for around $400,000 by contacting Galpin Aston Martin sales reps.
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