...While shopping at a local Land Rover dealership near Los Angeles, Fisker's wife met a woman who said her husband was also in the auto business. The two women arranged a dinner date to get their husbands together. The other man turned out to be Alan Niedzwiecki, CEO of a hybrid-drive technology company called Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc., also in Irvine.
Quantum had big plans of its own. The company, founded in 2000, had developed a stealth propulsion system to power U.S. military combat vehicles. Quantum was also gearing up to market a hybrid-electric powertrain system called Q-Drive to automakers.
During their dinner in 2007, a serendipitous opportunity became obvious: Niedzwiecki was an advanced technology supplier looking for a consumer vehicle. Fisker was a vehicle maker with no powertrain resources.
Recalls Fisker: "We sort of reached the same idea at the same time. We said, 'We should start a company together.' "
The resulting venture would be Fisker Automotive Inc., a corporation set up to produce and market its own cars. Quantum would help fund the venture and exclusively supply the cars with its Q-Drive powertrains. Fisker Coachbuild would design and engineer the cars. Henrik Fisker himself would style the cars...
