Henrik Fisker, more than a year after leaving his own namesake company, is back and apparently ready to rock the Los Angeles auto show with a new car.
The 61-year-old Danish car designer extraordinaire (Aston Martin DB9, BMW Z8) and plug-in-hybrid CEO (Fisker Automotive) is slotted for a 25-minute press conference next month, a day before the show opens to the public. Fisker has been missing in action since he left Fisker Automotive in March 2013 after months of embarrassing and unfortunate mishaps, which ultimately saw the automaker fall into bankruptcy and reemerge in the hands of a Chinese parts company. Aside from a motorcycle concept he crafted earlier this year, Fisker has kept far away from the public eye.
The only thing that’s obvious is that he’ll be on the stand with Galpin Motors, the California mega-dealer with its own on-site restaurant and custom-car business — the same one that churned out the 1024-hp Galpin Ford GTR1 last year and the Transit-based Skyliner Concept van with the hardwood floors in April. As the world’s largest Ford dealer, Galpin has a lot of pull with Dearborn, plus its aftermarket shop Galpin Auto Sports will modify anything at nearly any price; the GTR1, as one example, is a rebodied and completely retuned $1 million Ford GT that promises 0 to 60 mph in 2.9 seconds.
Details on the L.A. unveiling are scarce. It doesn’t seem that Fisker will come back to resurrect his Karma supersedan. Bob Lutz sort of already did that, of course, and it seems that Fisker doesn’t want to bring up memories of screwing owners out of their warranties and American taxpayers out of more than $140 million in defaulted federal loans. Given the Galpin association, Fisker might return to his former days as a coachbuilder when he offered the BMW 6-series–based Latigo and the Mercedes SL–based Tramonto in the mid-to-late 2000s.