The Fisker Rocket will make its debut next Thursday at the L.A. Auto Show.
Anyone who expected Henrik Fisker to simply ride off into the sunset following the failure of his eponymous battery-car company, Fisker Automotive, clearly hasn’t spent any time with the hard-driving Danish designer.
For some months, we’ve been hearing rumors of his return to the car business, and it now looks like it will officially come next week with the debut of a design dubbed the Rocket. The carbon fiber-bodied sports coupe is set to debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show on November 20 during an 11:05 AM news conference.
A terse news release doesn’t tell us very much, but it appears what is being billed as the “Ultimate American Muscle Car” is a joint venture teaming the 51-year-old Fisker and the folks at Galpin Auto Sports, a customization center run by mega-dealership Galpin Motors in the L.A. suburb of Van Nuys.
The black-and-white sketch we’ve gotten our hands on doesn’t reveal all that much, though it suggests something of a cross between the latest Mustang and the Aston Martin DB9 that Fisker gets credit for designing. Considering Galpin is the world’s largest Ford dealer, perhaps the Mustang DNA is the starting point, and the new partners are setting themselves up to take on more traditional tuners like Shelby, Calloway and Saleen.
They’re certainly laying down a major claim, however, and one that won’t be easy to live up to considering the fact that we’ve entered into a new golden age of muscle cars, despite increasingly tough fuel economy and emissions regulations.
There are the new Dodge Challenger and Charger SRT Hellcat models, each delivering more than 700 horsepower direct from the factory. And Shelby American last year rolled out a customized version of the last-generation Mustang making more than 1,000 horsepower. Galpin showed its process awhile back with the 1,024-hp Ford GTR1 and, more recently, with a customized 2015 Mustang unveiled at this month’s SEMA Show making 724 hp.
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Indeed, the new ‘Stang would not be a bad place to start, what with the power and performance baked into the “base” GT. Now add the fact that it’s the first high-volume version of Ford’s classic pony car to come with a stock independent rear suspension.
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What might be under the hood of the Rocket? We’re not betting on a plug-in hybrid drivetrain considering Fisker’s recent ordeals – even though Ford is actually considering such an option for the future, as TheDetroitBureau.com reported recently. A supercharged or twin-turbo V-8 seems far more likely.
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It also remains to be seen if the Rocket will be a one-off or serve as a model for a limited-edition series from Galpin.
Don’t be surprised to see Fisker find other outlets for his talent in the years ahead. Despite the bankruptcy of his battery-car company, his Fisker Karma – and the never-completed Fisker Atlantic – won raves for their looks, and the Danish designer could find plenty of opportunities to return to his roots.