Fisker’s Hybrid: First Details Emerge

Fisker’s next car is shaping up quite quickly. The announcement that the brand’s next vehicle would be a hybrid showed a new direction, but what will the car look like? What will it be powered by? And what sort of car will it be? These details are now in the open.

The new car is described as being the height of a Porsche 911, but with the interior volume to seat four adults and enough trunk space to house their luggage. From the preliminary sketches the car has a side profile that’s quite sleek and also beautiful. It bears a certain resemblance to the Aston Martin Rapide Concept, which could be explained since Henrik Fisker himself worked on various influential Aston Martins including the DB9 and the V8 Vantage.

Fisker says, “We want people to drive beautiful fast cars that make environmental sense - cars that are eco-chic and will have less of an impact on global warming.”

Fisker hasn’t made any definite plans about what kind of engine will go under the hood, but for the fact that either a gasoline or diesel powerplant would be an acceptable pairing. There’s a little bit more information about the electrical half of the equation, specifically what goals the company is aiming for. When the car is running on electricity alone, Fisker expects the sedan to have a range of about 50 miles, which is quite impressive, giving that the car is expected to have a fairly large and fairly advanced battery. It’s total range will exceed 620 miles, which is extraordinary by current standards. Mind you, Fisker also projects the car to have a top speed of just 100 mph, which isn’t very fast, although nothing has been said about how quick it will be. Making this possible is Fisker’s new technology partner, Quantum Technologies which is developing the system to also be of the plug-in variety.

Besides being a hybrid, this is shaping up to be the first Fisker car that isn’t based off another vehicle. The Tramonto and the Latigo CS, Fisker’s first two vehicles since being on his own, were based off the Mercedes-Benz SL and BMW 6-Series respectively. It won’t be long before we get a chance to see the new hybrid in the metal as it will make its appearance in Detroit this year.

One of the key differences between this car and other Fiskers is that the company has plans to produce it in larger numbers. Whereas the others might have a total production volume of 150 units apiece, Fisker hopes to start at a volume of 15,000 units per year. To reach such volumes prices will also be much lower than his other creations, with an estimated starting price of about $100,000. If Fisker’s designs are anything to go by, with the claims of green performance at a reasonable price, this car will be a true hit. The new Fisker should go on sale during the fourth quarter of 2009.