2023 Fisker Ocean on 2040-cars

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Fisker Pear shows up in L.A. in video and pics

With the Fisker Ocean running down production lines at Magna's plant in Graz, Austria, Henrik Fisker has decided to let the Pear out the play. The Fisker Pear will be the second car introduced to the lineup, expected to happen sometime around late 2024. The CEO said he was going to take it out for a drive in L.A., and someone caught the hatchback crossing the new 6th Street Viaduct Bridge last Friday morning. This week, a prototype dressed in the same camouflage and bright green 22-inch Slipstream wheels was caught parked in an L.A. alley, giving us an even better look.  This one's dubbed a battery-electric city car for a global audience, its name an acronym for Personal Electric Automotive Revolution. Said to challenge cars like the Volkswagen ID.3 in international markets, the Pear is actually sized like a subcompact crossover. Length is given as 4.55 meters or 179.1 inches. That's 12 inches longer than the ID.3, 9.5 inches longer than the Chevrolet Bolt EUV, half an inch longer than the 2024 Chevy Trax. A series of patent application drawings at Fiskerati give glimpses into novel features, one of them being a drawer that emerges from the front fascia, the other being a hatch that partially disappears into the bumper. The steel chassis debuting with the Pear will eventually support two more vehicles. That platform can hold one of two batteries on offer, one for local city duty, and a Hyper Range pack with an estimated 310 miles of range. Fisker has announced a price of $29,900 for the base version with the smaller battery, but we imagine it's going to be hard to hold the line on that until the Pear goes on sale. The key to making it work is keeping the parts count low, and maximizing manufacturing efficiency. The automaker hired a production exec from BMW's South Carolina facility to oversee plans at the Foxconn facility where the Pear will be built, the target being 250,000 per year by 2025. Fisker wants the Pear to get Fisker Automotive to 1 million sales by 2027. Last we heard, Fisker said it had 5,000 reservations for the little guy. Now that it's out and about, we should see and learn more soon.

5 new electric car companies coming in 2023 and beyond

It’s an exciting time in the automotive world as the industry shifts to electric vehicles at a rapid pace. With the changes, there are opportunities for new automakers to get traction and join the EV frenzy. Tesla did it over a decade ago, and now, a handful of well-funded startups hope to take on legacy automakers with new and innovative EV models. To help you make sense of the market, weÂ’ve outlined some more promising EV upstarts that weÂ’ll see in the next couple of years. LetÂ’s get rolling with our list of new EV automakers weÂ’ll see soon. VinFast VinFast is a Vietnamese automaker with headquarters in Singapore. ItÂ’s the first brand from the company to sell in other countries. The company says it will open dozens of dealerships in the U.S. by the end of 2022, though all will be in California. Two models will be available when the automaker launches in the U.S.: VF 8 and VF 9. VinFast will offer a unique battery subscription service that separates the cost of the vehicle and the battery. Read more: How Vietnam's VinFast wants to reach America's EV mainstream Read more: VinFast plans competitive pricing* to win over U.S. EV market (batteries not included)   Fisker Henrik Fisker, the guy who designed the BMW Z8 and Aston Martin DB9, didnÂ’t have the best luck with his first self-named automotive company in the 2000s. The Fisker Karma he created during that time lived on as the Karma Revero and now the Karma GS-6, but the original Fisker Automotive is long defunct. The auto design genius is back with another company bearing his name, though this time itÂ’s sleek electric vehicles heÂ’s designing, not futuristic plug-in executive sedans. The Fisker Ocean will be first out of the gate and is expected to start production in late 2022, and it's expected to be followed by the low-cost and unique Fisker Pear. Read more: All our coverage of the Fisker brand   Canoo CanooÂ’s vehicles look as funky as its name sounds, but that uniqueness has made the company hard to forget. That said, Canoo has had its share of management disputes and challenges getting products off the ground. The automaker plans to release a van, a pickup truck, and a boxy delivery van that looks like itÂ’s made from Legos. CanooÂ’s van and truck feature a unique cab-over design that places the driver and front passenger over the front axle rather than behind it. The look is similar to old-school semi-trucks and school buses and is unlike anything else on the road.

Hybrid Technologies LLC increases Fisker bid to $55 million

Will more money equal more Karma? In the continuing fight over the assets of extended-range plug-in vehicle maker Fisker Automotive, a Hong Kong-based investor is ready to up the stakes. Hybrid Tech Holdings has announced it will increase its bid for the maker of the Karma to $55 million. A bankruptcy court judge recently ruled that Hybrid Tech couldn't use any more than $25 million of its Fisker debt for an on-credit bid for Fisker. Hybrid Tech bought Fisker's $193 million line of credit from the US Department of Energy for $25 million. "When other shareholders ceased support, Hybrid continued to provide the financing and working capital necessary to maintain momentum," the company said in a statement. "Hybrid is working to achieve a rapid relaunch of Fisker." AutoblogGreen asked Hybrid spokeswoman Megan Grant for more details, but she said, "The statement distributed ... is the only information I am able to provide at this time." You can read the full statement below. At this point, Hybrid Tech's offer would trump Wanxiang Group's bid of $25.8 million (plus assumed debt) that was issued in late December and then boosted to $35.7 million earlier this month. Fisker favors the Hybrid Tech bid because it believes Wanxiang, which acquired most of the assets of lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems in 2012, helped speed up Fisker's shut-down by stopping battery deliveries. Fisker filed for bankruptcy in late 2012. The auction for the remains will be held in February. Statement by Hybrid LLC Today, Hybrid Tech Holdings, LLC ("Hybrid"), a Delaware limited liability company, announced that it has modified the terms of its bid for Fisker Automotive Holdings, Inc. ("Fisker"), to reflect a purchase price of US$55 million. Hybrid intends to utilize Fisker's existing plant in Delaware to meet consumer demand and address market conditions. "Hybrid's confidence in Fisker's future is strong and unwavering. The Hybrid group has been an investor in Fisker for many years. When other shareholders ceased support, Hybrid continued to provide the financing and working capital necessary to maintain momentum, as well as taking on the US$25 million risk of purchasing the Department of Energy loan. We did so for a simple reason; we believe deeply in Fisker's technology and we stand by the talent in the company who can bring the promise of this technology to life," said Hybrid spokeswoman Megan Grant.