In just short of 100 days, a factory responsible for producing the Fisker Ocean zero-emssion SUV will rumble to life and begin production of the first offering from California-based Fisker, Inc.
Fisker, Inc. was formed by automobile designer Henrik Fisker and his wife Geeta Gupta-Fisker, with the goal of designing, engineering, and producing zero-emission vehicles with longer range, autonomous driving capability, and advanced battery technology.
This is not his first venture into automotive manufacturing, as Henrik Fisker co-founded Fisker Automotive in 2007 with Bernhard Koehler and Quantum Technologies. The collaboration resulted in the development of the Fisker Karma, a sleek, sporty, extended-range hybrid coupe. A total of 2,450 vehicles were manufactured from 2011 to late 2012. The beginning of the demise of Fisker Automotive was the bankruptcy filing of its sole battery supplier in December 2012.
A year later, Fisker Automotive would also file for bankruptcy and the company was sold, with Henrik emerging with the Fisker trademarks and brand. He and his wife regrouped in the aftermath, and began work on Fisker, Inc. in 2016.
In July 2020, Fisker, Inc. announced plans to introduce a four-vehicle, all-electric vehicle lineup by 2025. The Fisker Ocean will reportedly be joined by a sports sedan, a coupe-like SUV, and a lifestyle pickup.
Photo: Fisker
The company opted to take a different approach to manufacturing than other startups such as Rivian and Lucid, by relying on an automotive contract manufacturers for the production of its cars. This allowed Fisker to concentrate on designing a long list of industry-firsts into the Ocean SUV without having to be concerned with the costs involved in set-up and operational issues.
The responsibility for producing the Henrik-designed Fisker Ocean fell upon Magna Steyr, AG, an automobile manufacturer based in Graz, Austria. The company has a 6% ownership stake in Fisker, Inc. and will manufacture Fiskers at its primary carbon-neutral facility in Graz. The facility is capable of producing 150,000 vehicles per year.
At the Deutsche Bank 2022 Global Auto Industry Conference in June, CEO Fisker stated the company has orders for 51,000 Ocean SUVs and expects numbers to reach 80,000 by the end of the year. The plan is for Magna to produce 40,000-50,000 vehicles next year, before increasing production.
By 2024, the company expects to be producing upwards of the facility's capacity, if suppliers and supply chain issues can be effectively managed.
Photo: Fisker
Fisker also touched on how the company is taking lessons learned from developing the Ocean to the development of the Fisker Pear (Pear stands for 'Personal Electric Automotive Revolution'). The Pear will be a low-cost, stylish, all-electric vehicle built in Ohio by partner Foxconn.
Beginning on November, 17, the Magna Graz facility will transition from producing prototype Ocean vehicles for testing, to full production of Oceans for retail sales.
There are four variations of the Ocean and the plan is to start by producing their two most popular and premium models. They will assemble 5,000 top-of-the-line Ocean One vehicles, followed by the Ocean Extreme.
It expects most of 2023 production will be focused on the two premium models and any extra capacity will be use to produce the lower end Ocean Ultra and Ocean Sport.
Photo: Fisker
The two premium models retail for $68,999 (66,753 euro) with the Ultra priced at 49,999 (48,376 euro) and $37,499 (36,278 euro) for the base model Ocean Sport.
The Ocean, equipped with a winter package that includes a heated windshield, may be popular in the cold weather countries of Scandinavia and could become its biggest market. However, with plans to build the Pear in Ohio, the company cannot overlook the importance of the U:S. Market
These are interesting and anxious times for the automaker, especially start-ups as EVs are all the rage in automotive manufacturing, with giants like Ford, Volkswagen, and GM beginning to slowly ebb away at Tesla's market share.
Google News