Henrik Fisker has filed a $100 million civil lawsuit against Aston Martin in a federal court over allegations of extortion. Fisker, who previously worked for Aston Martin but is most famous for his failed car company Fisker Automotive, is claiming Aston Martin made “threats” regarding the planned introduction of a new concept car at next week’s 2016 Detroit Auto Show.
The concept car is the Force 1, which was previewed by Fisker in a teaser sketch last month. According to Fisker’s legal team, the designer received a letter from a lawyer representing Aston Martin. The letter demanded that Fisker either make some changes to the concept before the debut or refrain from showing it altogether.
Allegedly, Aston Martin made the demand based solely on the teaser sketch and threatened to sue Fisker if he failed to comply. In the letter, a comparison of the design shown in the teaser sketch was made with Aston Martin’s own DB10 built exclusively for the James Bond movie Spectre.
Teaser for Henrik Fisker Design The Force 1 - Image via Automobile
Aston Martin DB10 from new James Bond movie ‘Spectre’
Note, this isn’t the first time that such an issue has flared up between the two parties. Last March, Aston Martin filed a lawsuit against Fisker over the design of a coachbuilt car based on the original Aston Martin Vanquish, which Fisker planned to build and sell in limited numbers as his own car called the Thunderbolt. However, that time Fisker and Aston Martin managed to settle things out of court and Fisker canned the project.
We’ll bring you more news on this latest tussle when we have it.
The 2016 Detroit Auto Show starts January 11. For more coverage on the event, head to our dedicated hub.
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