By now, you probably already know about all the drama with Fisker Automotive->ke1074. There was that lawsuit between Hendrik Fisker and Aston Martin->ke13, the bankruptcy of Fisker’s battery supplier, and finally the bankruptcy of Fisker Automotive. Shortly after the bankruptcy, the brand was purchased by Wanxiang Group, and the name was eventually changed to Karma->ke3016 – the name of the only vehicle produced by Fisker Automotive. What a lot of people don’t know, however, is that before Fisker became an actual car company and built the Karma, it was a coachbuilder. As a coachbuilder, it built two different cars, one of which was the Fisker Tramanto

The Tramonto is an interesting vehicle all the way around. It shares the architecture of the Mercedes->ke187 SL55 AMG, but since it was designed by Henrik Fisker, it shares some design cues with the BMW Z8->ke1697. Originally, 150 examples of the Tramanto were to be built, but in the end, Fisker only manage to hand build a total of 15 – making it one of the world’s most unknown collectables. With an AMG-sourced V-8 and transmission under the hood, the car was essentially a Mercedes that looked like a BMW->ke178.

For being so rare and unknown, it was actually a beautiful car. It seems like Henrik Fisker never exactly has the best of luck, but he sure could design a car. It’s too bad the Fisker brand was never able to take off like it could have, but Fisker has said he has plans to launch a new car company in the future. Until then, let’s take a good look back at the Tramanto – the car from Fisker that you probably haven’t heard about.

2006 Fisker Tramonto

Specifications
  • Make: Array
  • Model: 2006 Fisker Tramonto
  • Engine/Motor: 5,5 liter V8
  • Horsepower: 610@5800
  • Torque: 2200

Exterior

The Tramonto had a really smooth and clean overall design. Up front, the car had a radiator grille that was shaped similar to that of Chevy’s “Bowtie” emblem. There was a vertical splitter in the middle of the grille that lined up with the Fisker emblem on the hood. The turn signal and running lights were rectangular in shape and integrated into each side of the grille. Down below the grill there was a wide air dam that was rectangular in shape and featured a small, circular fog light on each end.

Moving over to the sides, there is even more smoothness to talk about. There is a small vent on the fender that transitions into a body line. That body line runs across the door, is centered with the door handle and fades into the rear quarters above the rear wheel arches. Aside from that, the rear wheel arches are flared out a bit, but not much.

The rear of the car was just as gorgeous as the front. The rear deck lid, which is also responsible for hiding the top when it is down, wraps over the end of the vehicle and buts up to the rear fascia – similar to that of a normal trunk lid. The taillights are thin units that wrap from the rear end to the rear quarters. There is another set of lights with integrated reverse lights in a thin vent that runs the width of the rear fascia. Down below there is a rectangular exhaust exit on each corner of the fascia with a chrome plate installed between them.

The most interesting part of the exterior, however, are the five-spoke wheels that the car rides on. They are of the deep dish variety and were designed by Henrik Fisker himself. The other notable thing to mention is the fit and finish of the body panels themselves. Each body panel fits so tightly together that the seam between them is almost hard to spot. The same thing goes for the seams around the doors and the rear decklid as well.

Interior

On the inside, the Tramonto had a healthy dose of fine Italian leather. As you can see in the images here, the seats and dashboard are all wrapped in a tan-like brown leather while the waistline around the top is wrapped in black leather. All materials are hand trimmed, and hand stitched together. The center console has a large, milled aluminum accent plate as well as the gear shifter.

Otherwise, the interior is a rather simplistic design. The instrument cluster features just four, brightly backlit gauges with the speedo and tachometer located in the middle with smaller gauges in the corner. The center stack had a small infotainment system with a square screen that served as a navigation center. HVAC controls were located just below the display screen. In addition to the finely crafted interior, the convertible could become a coupe or vice versa in just 16 seconds with the press of a button. All told it was a very comfortable cabin and was excessively inviting. For a two-seater, it wouldn’t be a bad vehicle to road trip in.

Drivetrain

The Tramonto was offered standard with the 610 horsepower and 650 pound-foot AMG V-8 that came standard with the SL55. It was able to hit the 60 mph benchmark in 3.6 seconds on the way to a top speed of 202 mph. Of the 15 vehicles built, 14 of them had the AMG V-8. The last model produced, No. 15 of 15, was equipped with a V-12 that enabled the car to hit the 60 mph sprint in 3.2 seconds and go faster than 205 mph. Now that’s about normal for supercars of today, but you’ve got to remember that this was a hardtop convertible, so acceleration and speed of that caliber are pretty amazing, to say the least.

Unfortunately, due to the limited production numbers and the situation surrounding Fisker Coachbuilding, there aren’t too many other performance figures or other drivetrain information to go by. We know that Fisker equipped the Tramonto with a Kleemann brake system that featured eight-piston calipers up front and four-calipers in the rear. Also, the engine was mated to a five-speed AMG Speedshift transmission, which routed power to the rear wheels.

Prices

It has been rather difficult to track down official pricing for the Tramonto, but that isn’t surprising given the circumstances. Some sources are indicating that customers would first have to purchase an AMG SL55, then pay another $100,000 to Fisker Coachbuilding to convert the SL55 into the Tramonto that you see here. There was a 2006 model, which was No. 2 of 15, that was Auction by Mecum a while back. It was driven and signed by Henrik Fisker but only sold for $70,000. For a car of its caliber and rarity, it seems like the car would be worth so much more. Unfortunately, that’s only the case in the eyes of certain car collectors.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, the Fisker Tramonto was a great car. Being based on a model like the SL55 and sharing design cues with the BMW Z8 pretty much gave owners the best of both worlds. Considering the rarity of the car, with only 15 produced in all, I’m shocked to find that a signed example sold at auction so cheaply, but then again Fisker never actually became popular in the automotive world as a coachbuilder or a manufacturer. When you look at vehicles like this, or even the Fisker Latigo, it certainly wasn’t the design or quality of the cars that prevented the brand from growing like the rest of the great names in the auto world have. Hopefully, Henrik Fisker does manage to fire up a new automotive brand. The man is a brilliant designer, and I think under the right circumstances, he could certainly make some huge competition for brands like Mercedes, BMW, and even Ferrari.