2023 Fisker Ocean One Awd on 2040-cars

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Did Katy Perry really just buy five Fisker Karma PHEVs for her employees?

We'll admit it, this is a strange little story. California Gurls singer Katy Perry was apparently so smitten by the California automaker Fisker that she bought five of the company's plug-in hybrid Karma for members of her staff. Reports say that she spent $500,000 dollars on the cars. Of course, this might all be nonsense. Everyone is saying that the original source for the news is the Daily Star, but there's no such report on the DS website. Then there's this obviously wrong quote from "a friend" of Perry's: "They are completely electric and top of the range in car luxury but she hates the smog in the air in LA. In total she spent over half a million dollars on the cars and now her conscience is clean." Karmas are not all-electric, of course, and if all it takes is money to erase your conscience, then we say well done, Ms. Perry. So we have to wonder if this isn't some elaborate prank designed to draw new celebrity attention to the Karma, since it's been a while since Justin Beiber had his own chrome Karma dreams. Or maybe people are just making things up. Either way, we like the idea of the Perry watching Paranoia and thinking, "I should get that status symbol for my posse."

Nissan, Fisker in advanced talks on investment, partnership

Nissan is in advanced talks to invest in electric vehicle maker Fisker in a deal that could provide the Japanese automaker with access to an electric pickup truck while giving the struggling startup a financial lifeline, according to two people familiar with the negotiations. The deal could close this month, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the talks are ongoing and have not been finalized. Terms being discussed include Nissan investing more than $400 million in Fisker's truck platform and building Fisker's planned Alaska pickup starting in 2026 at one of its U.S. assembly plants, one of the sources said. Nissan would build its own electric pickup on the same platform, the source said. Nissan has U.S. assembly plants in Mississippi and Tennessee. Fisker said on Thursday, when it announced it might not be able to continue as a going concern and would cut 15% of its workforce, that it was in talks with a large automaker for a potential investment and joint development partnership. It did not name the automaker. A Fisker spokesman said the company does not comment on speculation, while Nissan officials were not immediately available to comment. Fisker shares had been down about 45% before the Reuters report but pared those losses and were trading down about 25% with a market capitalization of more than $295 million. The term sheet is ready and the deal is going through due diligence, one of the sources said. Nissan was an EV pioneer with its fully battery powered Leaf hatchback in 2010 but has since struggled in the face of nimbler new entrants. A deal with Fisker would help it move into the growing U.S. electric pickup market. Nissan's talks with Fisker comes in the wake of the former's “rebalanced” relationship with its long-time alliance partner Renault. Last year, Nissan and Renault finalised terms of a restructured alliance after months of negotiations. They aim to have cross-shareholdings of 15% as part of the deal. The more limited alliance removes certain restrictions and has opened the door for Nissan to develop growth plans in areas such as EVs and software independent of Renault, said one of the sources, who is familiar with Nissan's thinking. The Yokohama-headquartered automaker is scouring “many, many opportunities,” the person said.

Fisker teases Ronin GT four-door before August 3 investor day

Fisker feels it's far enough along in the automaking process and has enough product in the near-term pipeline to hold an investor day. That will come on August 3. Whetting appetites, the CEO teased the Ronin GT that's been in the works for years. We believe this is an evolution of the Fisker EMotion that Fisker talked about in 2018, then a coupe with novel butterfly rear doors, a 400-mile estimated range, and a price around $129,000. What we're seeing now has come out of the Magic Works outpost set up in England and run by Aston Martin's former head of special projects David King. Henrik's caption with the Instagram tease was, "Fisker Ronin, All Electric super GT! Reveal August 3rd! Super fast & space for 5! The ultimate long distance Grand Touring car with an anticipated range of 600 miles!" This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Fyi, that's 600 miles of range on the WLTP cycle. Plenty of distance still, although it's a small climb down from the targeted 660 miles of range we heard about in May 2022.  Fisker only calls this an electric grand tourer in the Insta post. On the Fisker site, the car is called "the world's first all-electric, four-door convertible, GT Sports Car." There's a shut line across the roof, placed where the absent B-pillar would otherwise make itself known. Another shutline separates the center panel from the C-pillar, just where one would expect a three-piece hardtop to separate so that it can fold into the trunk. Assuming this comes to pass, the Ronin will be the first and last entry in the four-door convertible GT market in the U.S., and the only genuine hardtop convertible on sale here (as opposed to the targa setups on cars like the Chevrolet Corvette and McLaren 750S).   In terms of specifications, all that's been announced is that the Ronin will offer "extremely high levels of performance" and serve as "a showcase for [Fisker's] internal engineering, powertrain and software capabilities." The vehicle battery's been integrated into the structure, and active aero is going to play a part. The company's promised to keep the price below $200,000.     Investor Day will also show the production Fisker Pear city vehicle, and we hear the Alaska pickup, based on the Ocean, might make a cameo. Fiskerati reports Fisker having said of the pickup, "that’s really our take on a very unique super sporty pickup truck.