Henrik Fisker sues Aston Martin for $140 million

Henrik Fisker is suing Aston Martin for an incredible $140 million in damages because it forced his car-maker to cancel its launch of the new Force 1 sports car.

The reason Aston Martin gave for its cease and desist action that halted the car’s launch was because it believed the Force 1 bears a significant resemblance to its own car line-up.

In a letter to Fisker Automotive, Aston Martin’s lawyers reportedly told the Danish designer that the Force 1’s design should be altered to “avoid conflict with Aston Martin’s rights”.

The British car-maker also claims the Force 1 is “strikingly similar” to the DB10 it created for the most recent James Bond movie, Spectre.

Fighting back, Fisker says the claims are unfair because they’re only based on a single teaser image. To explain further how the cars differ, Fisker has submitted his own comparison images for his defence and begun counter proceedings.

Issuing a statement announcing his legal action against Aston Martin, Fisker’s lawyer said: “We believe that in an effort to protect itself from further market erosion, Aston Martin conspired and devised a scheme to stomp out Henrik Fisker’s competitive presence in the luxury sports car industry”.

It’s not the first time Aston Martin and its former chief designer have clashed. Last year the British sports car-maker ordered Fisker not to produce a production version of his Thunderbolt concept because it claimed it was a copy of the Vanquish.

The Force 1 is due to be unveiled later this month at the Detroit motor show, it’s not known if the unveil will still go ahead. Little is known about the new sports car, other than the tease that triggered the legal action, although it has been confirmed that the new sports car will come powered with one of the “world’s highest output naturally aspirated engines” and that production will be limited to 50 cars.

The Force 1 is expected to be priced from around $250,000.