[Fabulist]

I was enjoying reading this interview of Henrik Fisker by Car and Driver until I got to the last question when he was asked what he would do differently if he got to do it all over again, and his answer was "I would have put a little less effort into the amazing quality we put into them". Of course, he was not talking about the Karma and in the full context of the question, his answer made sense, but for goodness sake, why would a CEO whose company just got savaged by the press hand such a stupid soundbite to the press? If Fisker had a real PR department, he would never be allowed to utter anything like that in an interview with a leading car magazine.

Here is a link to the full article.

<shaking head>

-- Fab.

 

[brian]

Heh, I saw that same thing and had the same reaction.

-Brian

 

[AnOutsider]

For those wanting the full context...

When we started Fisker Coachbuild and did the one-off cars, frankly, I would have put a little less effort into the amazing quality we put into them. We made aluminum doors and steel fenders, and we were competing against people who made fiberglass bodies. We thought people would appreciate it, but not enough people appreciated it enough to pay all the money we wanted for it.

Interesting that he pretty much sees a buyout or partnership with a major automaker in Fisker's future.

 

[Fabulist]

Interesting that he pretty much sees a buyout or partnership with a major automaker in Fisker's future.

I don't know -- the statement is pretty cryptic:

when we look to the future and beyond the Nina, our second platform, toward a third line and a lower price point, I think at that time we will want some cooperation with another car manufacturer because we want to have a certain scale, a certain purchasing power.

He could also be talking about a Tesla-Toyota style joint venture with one of the bigger car makers, for example.

-- Fab.

 

[AnOutsider]

True. He also says that 1 billion is much too low when probed on what he'd say if VW offered that. Not "I'm in it for the long haul", but "need more money". Those two things combined just gave me the inkling he's open to a sellout at the very least,if not actually building towards it.

 

[Dutch]

I was enjoying reading this interview of Henrik Fisker by Car and Driver until I got to the last question when he was asked what he would do differently if he got to do it all over again, and his answer was "I would have put a little less effort into the amazing quality we put into them". Of course, he was not talking about the Karma and in the full context of the question, his answer made sense, but for goodness sake, why would a CEO whose company just got savaged by the press hand such a stupid soundbite to the press? If Fisker had a real PR department, he would never be allowed to utter anything like that in an interview with a leading car magazine.

Here is a link to the full article.

<shaking head>

-- Fab.

I do not really see the problem, as he is talking about the Tramonto and Latigo with that remark. Having said that, he could have used the question to say something more meaningful, for instance about the delays (like: "I would have started test drives earlier or on a bigger scale, so we would have ironed out some things that we discovered in a late stage").

 

[Fabulist]

I do not really see the problem, as he is talking about the Tramonto and Latigo with that remark. Having said that, he could have used the question to say something more meaningful, for instance about the delays (like: "I would have started test drives earlier or on a bigger scale, so we would have ironed out some things that we discovered in a late stage").

@Dutch: There is no problem with what he said, the problem is with some of the more partisan elements of US press (e.g., FOX News) who instigated the recent non-crisis around their absurd claims that Fisker was taking US Government loan guarantees to create jobs in Finland by leaving out 90% of the facts. They could use that sentence without the context to imply that Henrik Fisker thinks Americans don't deserve high quality cars or that he is making crappy cars with US Taxpayer money or whatever else they can spin this into. Fortunately, at the moment, many of those organizations are mesmerized by the American political process and don't have the attention span to notice this but there are stories already trickling out about how Fisker has not delivered a single customer car so there is potential for this kind of mud storm.

If Mr. Fisker was better prepped for the interview, he would have phrased the answer in such a way that it could not be used that way, and as you pointed out, there are a number of ways of saying the same thing without creating a minefield for yourself later.

-- Fab.

 

[LonePalmBJ]

FWIW, this interview was likely conducted many months ago, before the EPA numbers and subsequent Solyndra-comparison flap. This interview was the inside back page for the C&D print magazine I received well over a month ago (the December 2011 edition, which is actually delivered in early November) and print cycles suggest at least a 6-8 week lead time from interview to article in print.