Fisker's next wave: A premium people's car

In Henrik Fisker's mind, the time has come for a car that has the universal appeal of the original 1959 Austin Mini, classic Volkswagen Beetle and 1965 Ford Mustang.

With about $1 billion in the bank and development of the Ocean electric crossover running smoothly and on track, the Danish-born designer is back in a familiar place: at his drawing board.

Earlier in his career, Fisker created such classics as the BMW Z8 and Aston Martin DB9. Then a decade ago, he launched his own car company, which produced the ill-fated Fisker Karma luxury sedan.

The now-CEO of Fisker Inc. told Automotive News the lessons he learned the first time around will help him avoid mistakes that could doom the Ocean and his next vehicle, which does not yet have a name.

The Ocean will be built in Europe under contract by Canadian supplier Magna International, whose Magna Steyr division builds the Jaguar I-Pace and other low-volume vehicles at its plant in Graz, Austria. Production is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2022.

"We have a great partnership with Magna that is working very well. I've never seen a program go this fast," Fisker said. The Ocean is a handsome midsize crossover slated to start at $37,499 before shipping. The first customer vehicles are scheduled to be delivered late next year.

But it's Fisker's next vehicle that he envisions as a global game-changer. It will be an affordable but premium electric vehicle, he said, assembled by Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., also known as Foxconn, the company that builds Apple's iPhone. Fisker envisions plants in Europe, North America, India and China, cranking out at least 250,000 vehicles per year starting in late 2023.

The Foxconn deal, Fisker says, will leverage that company's scale and manufacturing efficiencies.

He says the vehicle will cost "much less" than the Ocean. Even though Foxconn has never built a car, it is an automotive industry supplier of wiring harnesses and screens and will be building vehicles with a number of Chinese automakers before production of the second Fisker vehicle begins.

Fisker says the style will be unlike anything currently in production. And the vehicle will be aimed at commuters and urban drivers.

"I can tell you it will be a body style that is not quite a one-box," a multipurpose-vehicle-like model, such as a Ford Transit Connect. "It will have such unique proportions that it will not fit in a segment. It won't be a sedan, and it won't be a pickup truck because it has to be a vehicle that will be driven by a lot of people," Fisker said.

"It will be somewhat smaller than the Ocean. When you see the vehicle, you will immediately realize there is nothing like it. And I think some people might find it a little too futuristic and a little too different in the beginning.

"But I think that is necessary because we want to create a vehicle that goes across social borders. So we are not trying to make another traditional, slightly better-looking hatchback or something like that."