While the company’s first model, the all-electric Ocean SUV, is still nearly two years away from going to market, Fisker Inc. today announced plans to launch four products by 2025 – and seven longer-term.
In a brief statement accompanying this image, Fisker said it is “planning a portfolio expansion to a four-vehicle range by mid-decade, supporting the company’s long-term goal for Electric Mobility as a service.
The four-vehicle line-up will feature the Ocean SUV, a segment busting super-sports sedan based on the EMotion concept, a sports crossover, and a pickup truck.”
(EXCLUSiVE: With IPO in sight, Fisker reveals production plans, switch to VW MEB platform.)
The timing of the four was confirmed to be 2025, according to spokesman Simon Sproule. He also confirmed comments by company founder Henrik Fisker who, earlier this month, told TheDetroitBureau.com that his eponymous car company is working on seven products total. He would not discuss what the other models might be, however.
In a conversation on July 17, Fisker did hint that not only will there be other models coming but that there will be multiple variants of products like the Ocean SUV.
Fisker, a long-time automotive designer hailed for his work on projects like the Aston Martin DB-9, was an early pioneer in electrification. His first go at it, Fisker Automotive, developed the Karma plug-in hybrid sports car but went bankrupt in 2012. Its assets were sold off the following year to a Chinese company that has brought it back as Karma Automotive. An updated version of the plug-in model is now known as the Revero.
Fisker Inc. emerged in 2016 with a concept called the EMotion. That model was put on hold, Fisker choosing to launch first with an electric SUV more reflective of current market realities. It will begin pilot production in late 2021, the founder and CEO told TheDetroitBureau.com, with sales to begin by spring of the following year.
Once hoping to use futuristic ultracapacitors to provide extended range, Fisker has now fallen back on more conventional lithium-ion batteries. It has also changed its strategy on manufacturing. Initially, it hoped to set up its own plant, much like rival Tesla. But, watching the problems faced by other start-ups, such as Lucid and Faraday Future, Fisker has made an abrupt shift.
(Fisker going public on NYSE, expected to raise $1 billion.)
Instead, it now plans to base its products off platforms provided by other manufacturers. In the case of the Fisker Ocean, the SUV is widely expected to ride on a version of the MEB architecture underpinning Volkswagen models like the ID.3 and ID.4.The VW platform was used for the Ocean concept unveiled at CES last January, though Fisker has yet to formally confirm it will underpin the production model. Whatever the final decision, the company will then turn to a contractor, such as Austria-based Magna Steyr, to handle production
“When we created Fisker Inc., we set out to create a company that could deliver electric mobility as a service but do so through a range of highly emotional and differentiated vehicles,” said Fisker in Thursday’s news release. “Together with our innovative lease program, we will be able to bring a diverse choice of products to suit a wide variety of customers across many different budgets points.”
Company officials have said they may turn to different manufacturers for the platforms used for different Fisker models. There are numerous possibilities including not only established automakers like Volkswagen, but other startups that might seek to increase their volumes and, in the process, achieve better economies of scale.
The revelation that Fisker will develop an all-electric pickup shows its interest in entering what could be a major volume segment, But it will also face some challenges there. While three full-size models lead the U.S. sales charts, there is no clear sense of whether buyers will be open to going electric, something likely to depend upon meeting key attributes such as payload, towing capacity, range and operating cost, according to industry analysts.
(By the numbers: Fisker offers plenty of specs on the all-electric Ocean SUV.)
Meanwhile, the electric truck segment is set to get crowded in a hurry. General Motors this week confirmed plans to have its GMC Hummer pickup in production by late 2020, and recently confirmed it also will have an electric Chevrolet pickup. Ford is working on a version of its best-selling F-150 and Fiat Chrysler is widely expected to weigh in with an electric Ram. Among newer manufacturers, Tesla claims to have received significant advance reservations for its Cybertruck, while other players, such as Lordstown Motors, Rivian and Bollinger are readying EV trucks of their own.
