One thing of a facet undertaking.
Between jobs, because it had been, automotive designer Henrick Fisker took just a little day without work to perform a little artwork. That artwork, after all, was automotive, however in comparison with designing all-new autos, Fisker selected to work with autos already in manufacturing, sparing himself appreciable growth time, in addition to value. This “facet undertaking,” was named Fisker Coachbuild, and it produced simply two completely different autos, and never very a lot of them. (Click on right here for extra Forgotten Automotive Manufacturers.)
Historical past
This facet hustle befell between 2005 and 2007. On Fisker’s resume, the Coachbuild undertaking falls between his time working for the likes of Aston Martin, BMW, and Ford (largely between 1988 and 2005) and his founding of luxurious range-extended-electric car maker Fisker Automotive (2007-2013). Henrick would later set up EV start-up Fisker, Inc. (2016-2024), which constructed the ill-fated Fisker Ocean electrical crossover.
Latigo CS and Tramanto
Fisker produced two automobiles whereas working Coachbuild, the Latigo CS, and the Tramanto. The Latigo was a coupe based mostly on the modern BMW 645i, whereas the convertible Tramanto was based mostly on the Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG. The physique work was carried out in Italy by coach builder Stola. Be aware that Fisker left the interiors of those automobiles largely untouched.
Costs
Whereas costs diverse based mostly on choices and particular requests, the automobiles got here in at round $300,000 every, together with the worth of the doner automotive. All informed, Fisker Coachbuild, which was headquartered in Irvine, California, assembled 18 autos throughout it’s three years in operation.
Gross sales
Particularly, the corporate completed 15 Tramantos, 2 Latigos, and 1 high-performance M6-based Latigo, the Latigo CS V10.
Weak Demand
Operation’s ceased when it grew to become clear that demand for the custom-body autos was too low to make a go of the projected. Fisker had initially deliberate to promote 150 examples of every mannequin, after which transfer on to new designs.
Resale Worth
The Coachbuild automobiles haven’t held their worth nicely. A 2007 Tramanto not too long ago bought for simply $33,000, not way more than ten p.c of its authentic retail worth. That stated, the automobiles don’t appear to commerce arms usually, so establishing a worth historical past could be tough. However that’s OK, the entire undertaking was actually simply facet hustle, anyway.
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Fisker Coachbuild Photos
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