Tesla Alleges Fisker Design Thievery
Tesla Motors has a bone to pick with Fisker Automotive, a rival all-electric car producer (some day, maybe), accusing the company’s design firm, Fisker Coachbuild LLC, of stealing Tesla’s design for their next model, a four-door sports sedan. Tesla has filed suit against Fisker in a California court alleging that the Fisker stole the design for their own sedan, a concept which went on display at the Geneva Auto Show in March.
The design allegedly stolen was for the Tesla White Star and the vehicle in question is the Fisker Karma. Tesla paid Fisker Coachbuild $800,000 in 2007 for its design service which the company said was “substandard” and they decided not to use it. The lawsuit against Fisker and related parties seeks punitive damages and an injunction barring the defendants from using Tesla trade secrets and proprietary information to build a competing model.
Tesla Getting Sued Too
Tesla is also the recipient of a lawsuit, this one filed on behalf of Magna Powertrain which alleges it was never paid for design and development work completed on a two-speed transmission installed in the initial Tesla Roadster production run. The transmission was never used and Magna is suing Tesla for $5.6 million. Technical issues forced Tesla to scrap the transmission, one of many hold ups for the Roadster which is just now being produced.
Fisker Automotive Production Plans
While many consider the Fisker Karma to be a long shot (pipe dream, perhaps), the company says that their plug-in electric car will hold four people, travel 50 miles on a single battery charge, and be able to extend that range to 500 miles thanks to a one-gallon fuel engine that generates enough electricity to power the sedan.
The Fisker Karma is expected to retail for about $80,000 and the company says that its top speed is 125 mph with the ability to go from 0 to 60 in six seconds. The company is in discussions with American and German automotive manufacturers to use one of their plants to build the car.
(Source: Motor Trend & Wire Services)
Matthew C. Keegan is a freelance writer who resides in Cary, North Carolina. Matt provides magazine, web content, and article writing services to clients all over the world serving the automotive, human interest, and business communities. He invites you to explore the many quality auto parts sold by Andy's Auto Sport including BMW Z8 mufflers and Buick LaCrosse lambdo doors.
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