Fisker’s New Owner Sets Sights on Tesla

Fisker Karma (Credit: © Fisker Automotive)

Tesla has some new competition, thanks to a revitalized Fisker and its new billionaire owner. Lu Guanqiu, who is the not only the new owner of Fisker but also the Wanxiang Group Corp. in China. In an interview with Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Lu stated that he is willing to pour all of his assets into an all-out war with Tesla as he outfits Fisker to produce electric cars, stating that he would even go so far as to drive Wanxiang six feet under the ground.

Now, many people in the public mistakenly think that the Fisker was a true, all-electric car, which it was not. It sounds as if now Lu plans to make things easier for everyone, except Tesla, and start producing high-end electric cars that could potentially give the Model S and Model X a run for their money.

Before you laugh at Lu’s bravado as he challenges Elon Musk, the man who walks on water before breakfast every morning, you should know that Lu has an amazing track record. The man came from nothing, building his business from a simple flour mill into the largest auto parts manufacturer and research firm in China — a market that is now perhaps the largest and most influential in the entire world. Lest you think Lu got lucky, he once quit smoking in short order just to win a bet with a business associate, who agreed to provide some much-needed supplies. How big of a smoker was Lu before that bet? He burned through three packs a day, but since then he hasn’t touched a single cigarette. He is a man who is dead serious and determined.

Now that Lu owns Fisker, he finally has the resources to start producing cars, a goal he has had for some time. He sees electric cars as such a new area of automotive technology that he can quickly become a market leader.

Likely, Elon Musk is sitting and laughing at the idea of Fisker being a viable threat. He should remember there was a time when GM laughed at Toyota as a threat.