Overheat
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If there's a few vestigial traces of Aston Martin design cues in the styling of the Tramonto and Latigo CS, then designer Henrik Fisker could be forgiven: he did, after all, create the DB9 before leaving the politics and constraints of a major car company to go it alone. Fisker's aim is to revive the lost art of coachbuilding - effectively that of specially-commissioned bodywork on an already-engineered production platform - and his name of his privately-funded company Fisker Coachbuild states its ambitions pretty clearly.
The Tramonto is based on the Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG - if that wasn't exclusive enough for you. Stripped right down to its basic structure and powertrain (a process to cost a good $120,000 or so in addition to the cost of the donor car), all its sheet metal has been replaced in favour of new carbonfibre and stamped metal panels, a grille design said to have been inspired by the Raptor fighter jet, and a bespoke-build, hand-made interior. It retains its retractable roof, however, with the original mechanisms and door fastenings, along with all the electronica and safety systems. In addition, however, the supercharged 5.5-litre engine (495 bhp) can be modified by Danish tuning firm Kleeman to develop 610bhp - and produce 0-60mph acceleration in 3.6 seconds.
The Latigo, meanwhile, is a little more affordable - though only a little. That's the cost of a BMW 6-Series coupe plus $100,000 or so, which covers the new body panels and interior. Final specification hasn't yet been confirmed, but it can be ordered with the BMW 4.8-litre V8 (367bhp) or the M6's 550bhp V10 as a starting point.
Fisker told the media this week that he needs to sell around 150 cars a year to break even, but that he had already received deposits for 35. His business model is based around being able to spend most of his development budget on design, rather than having to engineer a car from the ground up, and he plans to keep up demand by making strictly limited editions of each model (150 each at the most) to maintain exclusivity. The Tramonto and Latigo will be produced in 2006 only, with assembly starting at Fisker's Newport Beach, California facility in April; versions of the Mercedes-Benz G-Class and BMW M5 are rumoured to be on the drawing board for 2007.
