When I design a car, I want people to look at it and go, 'Wow, that's kind of interesting,' and do a second take.
— Henrik Fisker
The car industry has invested a lot in hybrid, but my opinion is electric cars will take over a lot of hybrids quicker than people think now.
Tesla has defied everyone's predictions again and again. It has such a unique position in the market, and so far, whatever people think about Tesla and its business model, there is one fact that nobody can dispute: It pretty much has the market to itself.
I'm kind of impatient. I like to see things realized and not just work on a project for three years and wait, wait, wait. I try to keep myself busy.
When I see a car I've designed going down the street and somebody admiring it, that's a nice feeling.
People feel very emotional about cars, and I don't want them to feel bad about driving a fast car.
When we first showed the Karma in January 2008, we had barely started the company.
You need to focus on creating the actual value of the company, not just the theoretical value. The actual value comes from a great product that sells well and is ultimately profitable.
I want to explore the existing manufacturing abilities of Indian companies and create products together.
I could imagine that boats sailing in harbors will only use electric engines. And then once they are out in the water they will use diesel.
The car is the most regulated thing in the world. It's more complicated to make a car than it is to send a rocket to space.
I like to come up first of all with a free idea, thinking about and obviously understanding what is necessary for it to become a car.
You always have to stimulate the senses.
We designed a car that is for daily commutes and that you charge every day. The less you use the gasoline engine, the better mpg. Essentially, the Karma can achieve dramatic savings and low CO2 output when used as intended, as a daily commuter.
I remember, as a kid, riding in the back of my dad's old Saab 95 in Denmark. We were on the highway, and suddenly this silver Maserati Bora came upon us, then passed. At the time, to me, this car looked like a spaceship.
I believe there is room in the market for a daily driver that embodies all the attributes of the best track racing car and the comfort of a luxurious sports car.
We still haven't seen any cars take advantage of the electric powertrain in terms of how you proportion an electric vehicle versus traditional vehicles. Yes there's electric cars, but they haven't really done it in a beautiful way.
In a startup car company, everything you do has to be done in a different way than a traditional car company. And the main reason is that all of these big car companies are operating like giant well-oiled machines - you could put a very seasoned executive in, and all he has to do is make sure the machine keeps running.
The implementation of autonomous driving needs a whole new rethinking. To really make it an attribute for society, we really need to think differently about where and when and how we implement this.
I like to have the widest part of the car being the wheels and not the body. It gives it a more athletic look and, with the sculpture, helps make a car look sexy.
Most automakers develop multiple options for a single project. Then they present those options to a committee of executives who decide which one to go with. That takes a lot of time.
I come from Denmark; Fisker Automotive comes from California.
If you think about jeans or phones or television, we are used to new brands popping up right and left. But in the car industry, we grew up with Mercedes, BMW, General Motors, and Ford, and nobody can remember during his or her upbringing a new car brand coming to life.
I like doing business with people in India.
The biggest challenge is to build the team and start the company, while hiring people, raising money, building a brand which has no history, all at the same time. You're doing a lot of things that in an established company are already done.
One of the big failures for the big auto companies is that even the CEO and the top management often don't understand design and manufacturing. As a CEO, you have to make decisions; you need to have knowledge.
A painting doesn't have to have a real usability other than you looking at it. Obviously, a car, an engine, or battery has to fit people's needs.
I have a 100-mile round trip commute on some of the nations' busiest roads and enjoy every minute of it.
Design - pure beauty - will be number one at Fisker Coachbuild. We want to bring beautiful, desirable cars to the market, limit the production of each model, and do so with the highest quality.
I've always wanted to design a Mustang. I just never really had the opportunity in my career because the timing was never right.
The market needs a super car with no excuses.
In this industry, you have to have passion. It's tough; there's no mercy. But I just love cars - I love to bring a new car to market. And every time I do this, it gets a little easier.
I don't take on projects that are a hassle or when someone comes in and says, 'We really need this design,' and I'm like, 'OK, fine, I'll do it.' It really has to be something that I personally feel intrigued and excited about - any product, as long as I'm excited by it. It doesn't have to be a car.
I probably have a very controversial view on autonomous driving versus anybody else in the auto industry. I don't believe that it makes any sense for an automaker to develop autonomous driving.
As a car lover, I ask myself, 'What am I going to be buying in the future? Will it be a boring, underpowered, dorky car because the government tells me I shouldn't pollute? Or do I come up with a cool-looking, sexy dream car that is also part of the future?'
You know what? Starting a car company is risky.
I used to have to pick up the phone and talk to people who placed orders for the car. When you reach a certain size, you need to have processes in place.
My motivation for starting Fisker was simple: I thought there must be a market for beautiful, exciting, fast, environmentally friendly cars. The car is probably the only product you can still fall in love with and have a relationship with.
Any car designer always dreams about designing their own car - if they say they don't, they're lying... For me, it was never about starting my own company just to make another car.
At a European auto show, I had someone from a German car company come up to me and say the Karma should cost $125,000, not $87,900, but our development process lets us lower the costs. I guarantee it's profitable.
Once investors come in, it's hardly your company anymore!
When I was at BMW and Aston Martin, I realized how difficult and how many resources it takes to create a car - let alone a car company.
We believe that there are many buyers who want a stylish, sporty car that sends a positive message about their concern for the environment as they drive it down the street.
I believe there's still room for the dream a lot of people in the industry have - to design and build your own cars.
