Fisker last week announced a long-term manufacturing deal with automotive supplier Magna for production of its Ocean electric SUV, while founder Henrik Fisker teased more details of the planned EV.
A binding manufacturing agreement finalizes all aspects of the partnership between Fisker and Magna, which was announced in October 2020, according to a company press release. Magna will build the Ocean and supply underpinnings, and the deal leaves room for larger-scale production or introduction of additional models, according to Fisker.
The Ocean will use a Magna-developed platform modified by Fisker and dubbed FM29, the press release said. The aluminum-intensive FM29 platform will be considered Fisker intellectual property, according to the automaker.
The manufacturing agreement was announced Thursday, and on Friday Henrik Fisker followed up with a tweet claiming engineers had "drastically increased power" and had added a "silicon-carbide inverter and a unique clutch."
Fisker Ocean
Fisker unveiled the Ocean in January 2020, before it had a supply chain or manufacturing plan. The key figures are a $37,499 base price and 300-mile range, but Fisker really hopes to distinguish itself with design, including a "California mode" that's billed as being as close as you can get to a convertible with a fixed roof.
In addition to nailing down terms with Magna, Fisker also recently inked a deal with Sharp for display and interface systems.
The company also went public in October. Like many other EV startups, Fisker used a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) reviser merger to do this despite not having delivered a single vehicle to a customer. Fisker has been taking reservations for the Ocean since November 2019—a few months before the car was even shown publicly.
The Ocean is scheduled to start production on November 17, 2022 at Magna's Graz, Austria, factory. Fisker has indicated that a super-efficient "radical" truck based on the Ocean might be arriving about a year later. It also has a deal with Foxconn to develop a $30,000 EV—and build it in the United States.
