Between jobs, as it were, automotive designer Henrick Fisker took a little time off to do a little art. That art, of course, was automotive, but compared to designing all-new vehicles, Fisker chose to work with vehicles already in production, sparing himself considerable development time, as well as cost. This “side project,” was named Fisker Coachbuild, and it produced just two different vehicles, and not very many of them. (Click here for more Forgotten Car Brands.)
History
This side hustle took place between 2005 and 2007. On Fisker’s resume, the Coachbuild project falls between his time working for the likes of Aston Martin, BMW, and Ford (mostly between 1988 and 2005) and his founding of luxury range-extended-electric vehicle maker Fisker Automotive (2007-2013). Henrick would later establish EV start-up Fisker, Inc. (2016-2024), which built the ill-fated Fisker Ocean electric crossover.
Latigo CS and Tramanto
Fisker produced two cars while operating Coachbuild, the Latigo CS, and the Tramanto. The Latigo was a coupe based on the contemporary BMW 645i, while the convertible Tramanto was based on the Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG. The body work was performed in Italy by coach builder Stola. Note that Fisker left the interiors of these cars largely untouched.
Prices
While prices varied based on options and special requests, the cars came in at around $300,000 each, including the price of the doner car. All told, Fisker Coachbuild, which was headquartered in Irvine, California, assembled 18 vehicles during it’s three years in operation.
Sales
Specifically, the company finished 15 Tramantos, 2 Latigos, and 1 high-performance M6-based Latigo, the Latigo CS V10.
Weak Demand
Operation’s ceased when it became clear that demand for the custom-body vehicles was too low to make a go of the projected. Fisker had originally planned to sell 150 examples of each model, and then move on to new designs.
Resale Value
The Coachbuild cars have not held their value well. A 2007 Tramanto recently sold for just $33,000, not much more than ten percent of its original retail price. That said, the cars do not seem to trade hands often, so establishing a value history would be difficult. But that’s OK, the whole project was really just side hustle, anyway.
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Fisker Coachbuild Pictures
Click below for enlarged images