It was revealed on Tuesday that Tesla Motors has filed suit against rival electric carmaker Fisker Coachbuild and two of its employees — including Fisker head Henrik Fisker. The lawsuit claims that Fisker stole design and trade secrets from Tesla.
According to the New York Times, Tesla hired Henrik Fisker and Fisker Coachbuild’s COO, Bernhard Koehler, to help design the company’s upcoming WhiteStar electric sedan — a contract worth $875,000. But, according to Tesla, Fisker and Koehler designed an inferior product and stole many of Tesla’s technical details.
Since working with Tesla , Fisker has taken the wraps off its own range-extending hybrid vehicle dubbed the Karma. Tesla says that Fisker not only stole the car’s hybrid technology from them, but also gave them a poor design so that the WhiteStar sedan wouldn’t be able to compete with the Karma. Tesla has since started from scratch with an all-new design for the WhiteStar sedan, pushing the project back about six months.
Both the Karma and WhiteStar are on schedule for a 2010 or 2011 launch with prices right around $80,000.
Tesla is seeking a refund of the project money and an unknown amount for damages. If the allegations prove to be true, Fisker might be rethinking the name Karma for its upcoming sedan.
