{"id":160308,"date":"2021-02-25T13:15:22","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T18:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=160308"},"modified":"2021-02-25T13:27:57","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T18:27:57","slug":"fisker-partnering-with-iphone-supplier-foxconn-on-new-ev-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2021\/02\/fisker-partnering-with-iphone-supplier-foxconn-on-new-ev-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Fisker Partnering with iPhone Supplier Foxconn on New EV Project"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Fisker founder Henrik Fisker offered up a vague rendering of the BEV the company plans to produce with Foxconn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

EV startup Fisker Inc. plans to partner with Foxconn, the Chinese company best known for producing iPhones, to develop a new battery-electric vehicle targeting \u201ca new segment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move follows Fisker\u2019s decision to have Canadian auto supplier Magna International produce another model, the Ocean SUV, at a plant in Austria. The plan, codenamed Project PEAR, will see Fisker and Foxconn launch production late in 2023. They are targeting production of \u201cmore than 250,000\u201d vehicles annually for sales around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe created our company to disrupt every convention in the auto industry,\u201d said Fisker Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Henrik Fisker. \u201cWe will create a vehicle that crosses social borders, while offering a combination of advanced technology, desirable design, innovation and value for money, whilst delivering on our commitment to create the world\u2019s most sustainable vehicles.\u201d<\/p>\n

From designer to automotive entrepreneur<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Foxconn officials said last fall the company was ready to start partnering with fledgling EV companies using its MIH platform. Fisker is the first.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Henrik Fisker started out as a designer, making a name for himself on projects like the Aston Martin DB9. He struck out as an entrepreneur more than a decade ago, launching one of the first major EV startups, Fisker Automotive. A series of setbacks led the company to declare bankruptcy, most of its assets bought up by China\u2019s Wanxiang Group, which relaunched the enterprise under the brand name Karma.<\/p>\n

In 2016, Fisker announced plans to reenter the market with a new brand initially developing an all-electric sports sedan. That was switched to an SUV design, reflecting a shifting market. Fisker also ruled out producing vehicles of its own, arguing that it could save cash and get to market more quickly by partnering with an established manufacturer. Magna uses its factory in Graz, Austria as a contract manufacturing site<\/a><\/strong><\/span> for a variety of established manufacturers. It will begin rolling out the Fisker Ocean next year.<\/p>\n

In an interview last autumn, Henrik Fisker told TheDetroitBureau.com that his goal is to have as many as seven different models in production<\/strong><\/span><\/a> by the end of the decade, a mix expected to include more SUVs, as well as sedans and a pickup. It is not clear what the two partners will produce as part of Project PEAR \u2013 the name short for Personal Electric Automotive Revolution. But a rough rendering suggests they’re working on a small, aggressively coupe-styled crossover.<\/p>\n

Looking for manufacturing partners<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Henrik Fisker’s already partnered with Magna to build the Ocean EV.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During last year’s interview, Fisker said that his nascent EV company would consider other manufacturing partners and had begun talking to several.<\/p>\n

For its part, Foxconn is best known for producing Apple\u2019s iPhones. The company last year indicated interest in entering automotive production, as well. Its strategy mirrors Magna\u2019s. Like the Canadian supplier, Foxconn is developing the underlying platform that will be used for the Fisker vehicle. And it is setting up a new assembly line with capacity for over 250,000 vehicles annually.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have two major advantages,\u201d said Foxconn Technology Group Chairman Youngway Liu, \u201cwith an exceptional vertically integrated global supply chain and the best supply chain management team in our industry. Coupled with our accumulated engineering capabilities, Foxconn has been critical to the success of many ICT companies over the past 40 years and we look forward to extending this success with Fisker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foxconn brings other advantages<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Magna’s facility in Graz, Austria will build the Ocean.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There is another potential advantage: Foxconn will be building the second Fisker product line in China which currently is the world\u2019s largest market for battery-electric vehicles, or BEVs. And the Chinese government\u2019s latest New Energy Vehicle rules<\/strong><\/span><\/a> mean that 20% of all products sold there by 2025 will need to be either BEVs or plug-in hybrids.<\/p>\n

But the memorandum of understanding, or MOU, signed by Fisker and Foxconn has broader ambitions, the new partners saying they plan to see the new BEV in North America, Europe and India, as well as China.<\/p>\n

Fisker went public in October as part of a SPAC reverse merger. Shares, traded as FSR, surged after the announcement of Project PEAR, nearing their 52-week high of $24.80. They\u2019ve seen slid a bit over 1% and, as of noon Thursday were trading at just over $22. That\u2019s still nearly triple the $8.70 low since the company went public.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EV startup Fisker Inc. plans to partner with Foxconn, the Chinese company best known for producing iPhones, to develop a new battery-electric vehicle targeting \u201ca new segment.\u201d Get details at TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,5,12,9],"tags":[],"make":[55],"post-state":[],"category_old":[118,150,151,123,287,131,319,155,299,250,132,125,139,148,128,291,278,288],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160308"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160308"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=160308"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=160308"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=160308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}