2023 Fisker Ocean on 2040-cars

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Fisker to team up with Apple supplier Foxconn to build future EV

Electric-car maker Fisker Inc said it will work with Apple supplier Foxconn to produce more than 250,000 vehicles a year from late 2023. This would be the second upcoming new Fisker vehicle, after the Ocean electric SUV, and would be jointly developed with Foxconn. Fisker’s shares jumped 23.4% to $20.10 in premarket trading on Wednesday. The deal, codenamed “Project PEAR” (Personal Electric Automotive Revolution), is looking at markets globally including North America, Europe, China and India, Fisker said. Foxconn, AppleÂ’s main iPhone maker, has ramped up its interest in electric vehicles (EVs) over the past year or so. Foxconn has recently announced deals with Chinese electric-car maker Byton and automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Foxconn aims to provide components or services to 10% of the worldÂ’s EVs by 2025-2027, and has been in talks with multiple car manufacturers for future cooperation, Chairman Liu Young-way said in October. The Taiwan-based companyÂ’s approach poses a major threat to established automakers that technology companies such as Apple and other non-traditional players could use contract assemblers as a shortcut to competing in the vehicle market. The EV space has been booming, with Tesla Inc still being the market leader. This week luxury electric-car maker Lucid Motors announced plans to go public by merging with a blank check company, even before regular production of its first model has begun. The recent run-up in valuations of several EV startups, including Nikola Corp and Lordstown Motors Corp, that have yet to produce saleable vehicles or meaningful revenue, has drawn comparisons to the dotcom bubble of 1999-2000, with analysts and investors expecting a near-term correction. Fisker said last year that Canadian auto supplier Magna International Inc would initially manufacture its first vehicle, the Ocean SUV, in Europe. The production is expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Almost $1 billion in claims filed against bankrupt Fisker

You may have scoffed when the US Department of Energy sold the rights to its $168 million outstanding Fisker Automotive loan to Hybrid Tech Holdings last December for just $25 million, or about 15 cents on the dollar. It turns out that might be the going rate for anyone with claims against the bankrupt extended-range plug-in maker, though. That's because Fisker, which declared bankruptcy in November, has generated $985.4 million in claims from 618 not-so-happy parties, Delaware Online says, citing a bankruptcy filing from last week. Fisker stopped making its sporty but troubled Karma in mid-2012. Wanxiang America won an auction for Fisker's assets, including its Delaware factory, for $149.2 million. That leaves $836 million, or about 85 percent of the collective value of the claims against the company. Naturally, Hybrid Tech Holdings, which was beaten out by Wanxiang in the bidding for the assets, has jumped in line to see if it can make good on what was formerly that DOE loan. The state of Delaware, where Fisker had acquired an old General Motors factory, is seeking $20 million stemming from some incentives it provided up front. And Finland's Valmet Automotive wants $8.5 million for its work with the company. Former Fisker employees say the company is on the hook for another $6 million, and none other than General Motors itself is claiming it is owed the same amount. Then there is the lawsuit we first heard about in December that was filed against Fisker and some of its executives who were collecting hefty paychecks while no cars were being produced. Add it all up and you get almost a billion dollars. Good times.

Fisker Ronin actually a four-seat convertible

When Fisker Automotive released an image of its planned Ronin battery-electric vehicle, the closed roof, Karma vibes and non-specific press release led everyone to believe it was a four-door sedan targeting an array of impressive specs. Turns out the Ronin is a four-seat convertible, making at least one of those specs even more impressive if Fisker hits it. Instead of the "over 550 miles of range" in the initial release, Henrik Fisker clarified that the Ronin's shooting for 660 miles of range on the WLTP cycle. That would beat anything on sale today even after converting to EPA figures, but the Ronin isn't due for its first deliveries until 2024. We also expect that mileage figure is a top-up number only; in view of all the turbulent air created behind a convertible's windshield, top-down mileage may vary considerably.  Fisker's quote that he wants the Ronin to have "the world's longest range for a production EV, combined with extremely high levels of performance" and be "a showcase for our internal engineering, powertrain and software capabilities" still holds true. Last year, the company opened a development facility in the UK called Magic Works, run by David King, formerly in charge of special vehicles at Aston Martin. King's team is working on making a cabriolet boulevardier that also evokes "a proper British sports car." Special features will include "unique doors for better ingress and egress," necessary because of the lack of a B-pillar. That quote from the automaker boss leads us to suspect the Ronin is the evolution of the Fisker EMotion (pictured above; yes, that's how it's spelled) luxury sedan the company took to CES in 2018. Chop the top off the EMotion, anchor the rear doors in the rear fenders instead of the C-pillar, and voila, a Ronin. That's all just a guess, though. What's not a guess is that Magic Works is working on special features like a battery integrated into the vehicle structure, powering a three-motor drivetrain able to get the Ronin to 60 miles per hour in under three seconds. That sprint would take the same time Wiesmann predicts its two-door, two-seat Thunderball to hit the same mark.