After what must have felt like a long decade of misadventures, Henrik Fisker is going back to his roots: lavish and custom design upgrades to factory sports-cars.

Fisker’s custom SL-Class and 6-series BMW’s were the stepping-stone between Fisker’s design career (with the BMW Z8 and Aston DB9 on his CV) and the OEM hybrid-maker of the Fisker Karma.

After designing the Tesla Model S, Fisker set his sights on more impressive pastures: an EREV with integrated gasoline generator and styling so outrageous and sexy that the Karma made every other sedan feel instantly dated and tired.

The story unraveled under immense investor, government and internal pressures of launching the Fisker Karma as a full-fledged production car available worldwide.

So what to do next for the clearly-brilliant Henrik Fisker? Back to the design tables. Fisker penned a few stunning Scandinavian motorcycles before linking up with Galpin Auto Sports in California, a hugely-successful car dealership, racing brand and customs shop all in one.

The Fisker ROCKET Mustang is the production version of Fisker’s stunning design.

But what might have really sealed the deal? This one-off Thunderbolt design study. A strict one-off with no production plans at this time, the machine shares not a panel inside or out with the factory Aston Martin Vanquish. The level of upgrades and the total dashboard and console redesign inside is every bit as impressive as this slinky new exterior.

The design shown here is at one lower and leaner than the Aston base-point, while also simultaneously more aggressive yet quietly more premium as well. The there are fabulous details throughout — and overall the effect of the Thunderbolt is to prove that Fisker still has tremendous design talent, a defined aesthetic and car look, and momentum to stay top-of-mind in the car business.

2015 Fisker Thunderbolt