Fisker Automotive gets "Stevie" award as most innovative company

The American Business Awards gave out its "Stevie" awards earlier this week and Fisker Automotive walked away with a statue as "Most Innovative Company of the Year – up to 100 employees." Wondering what a Stevie award is? So did we. Apparently, the American Business Awards were established in 2002 following the Enron debacle to honor companies and try to reestablish confidence in business. Like many lesser-known award programs, companies enter themselves although the fees for the Stevies are a comparatively low $160 rather than the thousands that some programs charge.

Whether the awards have achieved the original goal is open to debate and Fisker is just one of dozens of companies recognized this year. While it would be good to see Fisker succeed, it's not entirely clear what is especially innovative about the company. A small startup automaker partnering with suppliers to provide major sub-systems and components is a pattern that goes back to the early days of the industry. As for the idea of a luxury plug-in vehicle, Tesla started down that road even before Fisker, although it appears Fisker may get to the finish line first. Even the powertrain architecture is pretty similar to the Chevrolet Volt. Ultimately, all the awards in the world mean nothing; the proof is in the product pudding.

[Source: Fisker Automotive]

PRESS RELEASE

FISKER AUTOMOTIVE WINS 'MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANY OF THE YEAR' AWARD

IRVINE, CA -- June 22, 2010: American carmaker Fisker Automotive has received a coveted Stevie Award for business innovation from The 2010 American Business Awards program. The award was presented last night during ceremonies at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.

A distinguished panel of judges selected Fisker Automotive (www.fiskerautomotive.com) for "Most Innovative Company of the Year - up to 100 employees" for its unique approach to addressing future transportation needs.

Since its inception in 2007, Fisker Automotive has proven itself as a force in the automotive industry by leading the premium green car segment with the 403 horsepower, 100mpg Fisker Karma. The Karma will be world's first premium plug-in hybrid electric vehicle when it arrives in showrooms early next year.

Additional winners include other leading-edge companies like Apple, Mozilla, and Ford Motor Company.
More than 200 executives across the country participated in the judging process to determine the Finalists and Stevie Award winners. Details about The American Business Awards and the lists of honorees in all categories are available at www.stevieawards.com/aba.

ABOUT FISKER AUTOMOTIVE, INC.

Fisker Automotive is a privately owned, premium American car company creating environmentally conscious vehicles with style, power and performance. Global headquarters are in Irvine, California, USA.

The company was created in 2007 to leverage the design capabilities of Fisker Coachbuild, LLC, founded by auto design veterans Henrik Fisker and Bernhard Koehler, and the PHEV powertrain capabilities of Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ-QTWW), a major Tier 1 supplier of clean vehicle technologies to automotive OEMs.