The automobile manufacturer wants to go into series production with the Ocean.
new York It is a long-awaited step: series production of the long-awaited electric car Fisker Ocean has started at the Austrian car manufacturer Magna in Graz. This was announced by the US automaker on Thursday.
“It’s an emotional day when we start the production of the world’s most sustainable vehicle in record time and on time in the climate-neutral factory in Graz,” explained Fisker founder Henrik Fisker.
In contrast to competitors such as Tesla, Rivian or Lucid, Fisker does not rely on in-house production, but has its cars built to order. As a result, the company can fall back directly on well-rehearsed production sites instead of mastering the complex mass production itself. In return, a significant part of the sales proceeds goes to the partner Magna.
“We questioned the old model of long development times,” says Henrik Fisker. Even when they are launched on the market, their own cars should be of “the highest quality”.
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Fisker plans to deliver only 15 vehicles by the end of the year. It should really start in the first quarter of 2023 with more than 300 cars. In the second quarter, more than 8,000 cars are then to be manufactured; Fisker plans to produce 42,400 cars in 2023 as a whole. Around 80 percent of the total annual production is therefore only planned for the second half of the year.
Deliveries in Europe should start immediately, shortly afterwards those in the USA, where the cars from Graz have to be imported, as Henrik Fisker explained in an interview with the Handelsblatt in August. “Germany is a very important market for us,” emphasized the founder. At the end of this year they want to open a first showroom in Munich.
63,000 reservations for the Ocean
According to the company, a particularly large number of environmentally friendly materials are used in the Fisker Ocean. The car is said to cover 350 miles (560 kilometers) on one battery charge in the highest trim level. The luxury variant has four-wheel drive with two motors, a rotating 17.1-inch screen and other extras and will cost $ 69,000.
According to Fisker, more than 63,000 reservations for the car have already been received, and it could be 80,000 by the end of the year. A possible future US production for the Fisker Ocean is being considered.
Rising gasoline prices are driving the auto industry’s transformation, says Fisker.
(Photo: imago images/ZUMA Wire)
Fisker is the creature of Henrik Fisker. The 58-year-old Dane has designed many luxury cars, having worked for BMW, Aston Martin and Tesla, among others. His first electric car start-up went bankrupt in 2014. Now he is supposed to make his breakthrough with the Ocean. Chief Technology Officer is Burkhard Huhnke, a former VW manager and chip expert.
From 2024, Fisker wants to have a second vehicle called Pear built by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn in the former Lordstown factory in Ohio. The price is a challenge to Tesla: The Pear should cost less than $30,000.
More: Tesla challenger Lucid cuts production target in half – Fisker sees itself on course