Yahoo Autos Aston Martin slaps Fisker over unauthorized Thunderbolt
Last week, we showed you the Fisker Thunderbolt, a dramatic and beautiful Aston Martin rebodied by Henrik Fisker.
Today, Aston Martin is striking out against Fisker's concept, calling it an unauthorized copy of the British brand's work. As Jalopnik first reported, Aston is filing suit against Fisker.
Here's the thing: Henrik Fisker, before founding his eponymous high-end hybrid company that went belly-up, was a design director and member of the board at Aston Martin back in the day.
Now Aston Martin is fuming over similarities between Fisker's Thunderbolt and the car on which it's based.
And it gets even crazier: Fisker says the Thunderbolt is based on the Aston Martin Vanquish. Aston accuses Fisker of using an earlier DB9 or DBS as the donor for his show car, saying that Fisker is calling it a Vanquish to ride the coattails of that newer car's fame.
"Fisker's bad-faith intent to free-ride off the tremendous goodwill associated with the famous Aston Martin mark, wings logo, side vent mark, and Vanquish mark could not be more transparent," the automaker said in a legal filing against Fisker.
We're not sure where this is headed. When Fisker unveiled the car at Amelia Island, he mentioned that a limited-edition production version, which would be sold = through Galpin Auto Sports, would wear a more differentiated, less Aston-esque grille. Apparently that's not enough for Aston Martin.
Until the spat between Aston and Fisker is sorted out, maybe potential customers should stick with the 720-hp Mustang-based Fisker Rocket.
Here's the full court filing from Aston, as first uncovered by Jalopnik's Damon Lavrinc.
via Automotive News
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