2023 Fisker Ocean on 2040-cars

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Fisker Ocean enters production this week without some ADAS features

At the beginning of the year, Henrik Fisker said his eponymous company anticipated the Ocean battery-electric crossover entering production in November, first deliveries happening in early 2023. In the latest update during the Q3 earnings call with analysts, Fisker said everything is on track, the Ocean expected to start rolling down the production line at Magna Steyr's facility in Graz, Austria on November 17. If that happens, then dealers would be handing over the first sets of keys to retail customers next February. Hitting the milestones might be a bigger pick-me-up for Fisker than the customers, showing the longtime design executive may finally have the right team in place to become a successful auto executive. There will be some hiccups, however. Automotive News reports the first Oceans will be delivered without some software features because Fisker doesn't want to delay production while the coding is sorted. Most of the omissions are from Fisker Intelligent Pilot, the advanced driver assistance suite. Affected units will not have automatic high beams, blind-spot monitoring, and lane-keep assistance, which the company hopes to add with an over-the-air update early next year. Based on the production timeline, that could mean only the Fisker Ocean One, limited to 5,000 units and built into Q2 of next year, will be affected. Lane centering and traffic-jam assist are anticipated to come at the end of 2023. Cruise control is another casualty, unavailable until later next year. Fisker told Autonews he believes "There's also, quite frankly, a lot of customers that may not care about it, so why wait to launch the vehicle? And you know you're going to maybe get it three months, six months, nine months later." Based on the analyst call, Fisker Automotive is prepping for the trials of homologation in Europe and the U.S., and wants to do as much as possible at once instead of doing piecemeal software certifications. Delivering vehicles without certain software-enabled features that will be added later shouldn't surprise anyone. Volkswagen did the same with the ID.3 launch. Meanwhile, the chip shortage convinced legacy OEMs to sell cars without features that couldn't be added later.   Fisker's production ramp-up for 2023 intends for Magna to build more than 300 units in Q1, more than 8,000 units in Q2, more than 15,000 units in Q3, and at least 19,100 units in Q4, making a total of 42,400 Oceans. As mentioned, the first 5,000 will be the Ocean One.

Fisker Ocean 'Force E' package designed for silent, rugged rescues

About a week ago, Fisker teased a makeover for its Ocean crossover that prepped the electric people hauler for either a backcountry rescue or "I Am Legend." Henrik Fisker has now released the finished article on Twitter, the overhaul package called "Force E," for Force Electric. It's one of the four promised packages available when the Ocean goes on sale at the end of next year, designed to serve fleets that would need "an extreme off-road package for the Fisker Ocean." Reserved for the all-wheel drive model, the equipment list assembles a brush guard and tow hooks, a touch of extra lighting in the front fascia and on the roof rack, a tool mount on the tailgate, a plug to run external power, all resting on a lifted, upgraded suspension and, in the rendering at least, truly meaty tires on beadlock wheels. Inside come "certain upgrades with more rugged and durable materials."   On the first tease, Fisker said he had a special place in mind for the spare tire "that could only be done with an EV." That special place turns out to be a round hollow in the hood, which hearkens to Series I and Series II Land Rovers. The old Rovers rode on itty-bitty skinny tires, though. We hope the Ocean front fascia contains a step to get some leverage for lifting that spare, because it'll take real strength to get that load in and out without banging it on the hood, or worse yet, the windshield. Underneath the spare, a potable water tank lives in the frunk, its refreshing elixir dispensed through a tap next to the front license plate. Seeing where this Ocean is meant to go, that tap better be removable, or that brush guard as strong as Wolverine.   This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. All Force E crossovers automatically get the California mode option that opens the sunroof and all windows at the press of a button. The Force E kit starts off on the 300-horsepower Ocean, but Fisker says a high-performance model will follow.  The company touts having received more than 22,000 expressions of interest without clarifying if that applies to hand-raisers or to depositors.

Fisker talking to 5 automakers, seeks production: 'We have 2 cars that are almost ready'

  BERLIN — U.S. electric vehicle startup Fisker is negotiating with five carmakers over a partnership to secure additional production capacity for its vehicles, its Chief Executive Henrik Fisker said on Thursday. "We have two cars that are almost ready. We can bring them to market fast — we just need the capacity," Fisker said, speaking to Reuters in Berlin. The CEO told Reuters in May he was exploring partnerships with everyone from suppliers to tech companies to scale up production. On Thursday, he said he was in negotiations with five "traditional car companies" and hoped to pick a partner in the coming months. The California-based startup has one vehicle on the market — an SUV called Ocean, being launched from a factory in Austria operated by a unit of Magna International. Two further models, a pickup and a smaller SUV, are due to be released by 2025. The SUV, called PEAR, will be built with Foxconn in Ohio, but further capacity is needed for both models. Production Fisker Pear View 26 Photos It has so far produced 5,000 units of the Ocean car, according to a September update. Still, it cut its annual production target in August and adjusted pricing in October as it grappled with a slowdown in electric-vehicle demand. The chief executive was confident the company was still on the road to profit, and said it would report a double-digit margin this year, in line with its annual forecast of an 8-12% gross margin for 2023. It is due to release third-quarter results on Monday, after reporting a loss of 25 cents per share in the second quarter.