Lutz, Fisker Partner on New Car Company

Auto industry icon Bob Lutz and auto designer Henrik Fisker are partnering to “change the future of the American auto industry” through a Michigan-based company called VLF Automotive.

The company is an expanded version of VL Automotive, an exotic-car company launched in 2012 by Lutz and entrepreneur Gilbert Villarreal to build the Destino. The supercar was based on Fisker’s unsuccessful Karma plug-in hybrid sedan but fitted with a V-8 engine from a Chevrolet Corvette.

VL debuted the Destino at the Detroit auto show in 2013 with a $200,000 price tag and an initial sales target of 25 cars. VL merged a year later with GreenTech Automotive to build a variety of vehicles from electric runabouts to high-power muscle cars.

The new VLF aims to launch a redesigned Destino at the Detroit auto show next week. The company also will display Fisker’s Force 1 supercar in spite of a threat of legal action over the car’s styling by Fisker’s former employer, Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd.

VLF says the new Destino, now priced at $229,000, can zip from zero to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds and achieve a top speed of 200 mph.