It sounds as if war is breaking out between Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk and Fisker Automotive Chief, Henrik Fisker and considering Musk is calling the new Fisker “Mediocre with a high price”, among other verbal barbs, they are not going to be playing “Mr. Nice Guys” with each other. Of course it helps to know the history. The feud apparently started when Tesla failed at a lawsuit against Henrik Fisker because Fisker developed the Karma while he was under contract for the Model S, but slipped through the loops by paying someone else to design the car for him.
To top off his remarks, Musk said, “The fundamental problem with Henrik Fisker – he is a designer or stylist… he thinks the reason we don’t have electric cars is for lack of styling. This is not the reason. It’s fundamentally a technology problem. At the same time, you need to make it look good and feel good, because otherwise you’re going to have an impaired product. But just making something look like an electric car does not make it an electric car.”
Fisker seems intent on remaining a gentleman, but did submit a written statement to Automobile Magazine that said, “Obviously, Tesla and Fisker are appealing to two different customer bases with two totally different technologies. Tesla has pure EV and Fisker has a range-extended offering with no compromise on range,”
Fisker also offered appreciation for Musk for his comments about the gorgeous Karma, which is the winner of the Automobile’s 2012 Design of the Year. He also made it a point to mention how Fisker had won in court, the judge threw out the case and even awarded costs to Fisker. From the sounds of it, Musk had better stop while he’s ahead before he ends up looking like a complete horse’s ass.
Source Automobile Magazine