2023 Fisker Ocean on 2040-cars

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Fisker trying to secure Volkswagen's MEB platform for the Ocean

Henrik Fisker took his beating, stayed in the ring, and appears to be getting on top of the fight to be an electric vehicle automaker. At the beginning of the week, Fisker Inc. announced a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp, backed by private equity firm Apollo Global Management. The merger would value Fisker at $2.9 billion in preparation for a listing on the New York Stock Exchange. This is the same maneuver Nikola Motors recently employed in order to go public. Spartan filed a trove of documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission in advance of the filing, one of them an investor presentation that explained some backstory and hoped-for production path for Fisker's Ocean electric crossover. One key piece of info is that Fisker is in talks with Volkswagen about using VW's MEB modular electric platform and ancillary components for the Ocean. The agreement would include battery packs as well. One slide asserted that "anticipated access to Volkswagen’s industry-leading EV component quality, pricing, and supply chain ... accelerates time to market and dramatically reduces vehicle development costs." Furthermore, this attempt at deeper collaboration with VW is part of a two-year growing partnership. The Verge went through the presentation, noting that Fisker and VW entered a memorandum of understanding in 2017, upgrading that to a "collaboration agreement" in 2018. Audi subsidiary Italdesign built the Ocean crossover Fisker debuted at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the prototype described as a "near-series prototype" and sitting an MEB platform. This month, the two companies could sign a "cornerstone agreement" to formalize "costs, production capacity, and a timeline." If that happens, a contract covering supply and manufacturing would be consummated before the end of 2020. The timeline in the presentation notes earnest prototype testing next year, with production planned for late 2022. Separately, however, Fisker has said, "Prototype vehicles are expected to start durability testing by the end of this year, and we continue to make significant progress on the development of our sales and service proposition." If the IPO clears all hurdles, Fisker Inc. could receive $1 billion to put toward Ocean development and production. Meanwhile, a recent funding round secured $50 million from Moore Strategic Ventures.

Aston Martin drops Fisker lawsuit, Thunderbolt will not be produced

If you were perhaps looking forward to getting your hands on one of Henrik Fisker's Project Thunderbolt cars, you're out of luck. In order to quickly resolve a lawsuit from Aston Martin, Fisker has agreed to not produce his one-off take on the Vanquish coupe. Fisker made a splash at this year's Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance when he showed Project Thunderbolt. It was Henrik's own take on the already pretty Aston Martin Vanquish coupe, and apparently, the guys and gals in Gaydon didn't take too kindly to Fisker's creation, issuing a lawsuit that "centres on Henrik Fisker's creation and promotion of automobiles that Aston Martin contends infringes Aston Martin's rights, by an improper and unauthorised attempt to exploit and free-ride off them," according to a statement obtained by Autoblog last month. In a new statement issued Wednesday, the two parties have agreed to resolve their differences. Aston Martin has agreed to drop the lawsuit so long as Fisker does not produce his Project Thunderbolt coupe. So, sorry, Fisker fans. The official statement is pasted below. On March 26, 2015, Aston Martin filed a lawsuit against Henrik Fisker and other parties alleging various infringements by "Project Thunderbolt" of Aston Martin's intellectual property rights. The parties are pleased to report that they have been able to swiftly and amicably resolve their differences. The terms of the resolution are confidential except that the Parties wish to confirm 3 points: 1. Henrik Fisker has decided that "Project Thunderbolt" will not be produced; 2. Aston Martin will withdraw the lawsuit; and 3. In view of some apparent misunderstandings surrounding reports of the case, the Parties wish to expressly confirm that the contentions made by AML were those, and only those, made in the lawsuit. The Parties confirm that that they have amicably resolved those matters, as well as any attendant misunderstandings. The Parties will not be commenting further.

The $130,000 Fisker EMotion can be reserved for just $2,000

Just as Tesla did with the Model 3, Fisker is taking reservations for its upcoming EMotion electric sedan at its website. Deposits for the Fisker are a bit pricier than those for the Model 3, though, at $2,000 per reservation. Model 3 deposits were half of that. Of course, at a base price of $129,900, the EMotion is also about three to four times more than the target cost of the Model 3. There's also an interesting stipulation with reserving cars: Only three are allowed per person. We're not really sure why someone would need to order sizable batches of any car, but maybe it's just going to be that good. View 14 Photos The previously revealed specifications are certainly ambitious. Fisker says the car will be capable of going 400 miles on a charge, and that it will be able to pick up an extra 100 miles in 9 minutes of charging on a proprietary charging system. The car features autonomous technology, too, and some of the sensors are smartly hidden in the front chrome "grille." That faux grille and other styling details are all on display in an array of new photos and a video, all of which are shown above. The video shows the car in great detail as it slowly cruises past the overt "green" imagery of windmills and solar panels. Related Video: Image Credit: Fisker Green Fisker Green Automakers Technology Emerging Technologies Electric Luxury Sedan