By Michael Elkins
Shares of American automaker Fisker Inc (NYSE:FSR) are up 2.65% in mid-day trading on Monday as the company gears up to begin production of their newest model, the Fisker Ocean electric crossover. Fisker aims to begin building the Ocean SUV on November 17. The Ocean will be assembled by Magna Steyr in Austria, where the 95 prototypes were built.
The 2023 Ocean was fully revealed at the 2021 Los Angeles auto show, when Fisker pledged production would start by November of 2022. The company hopes that outsourcing production will help to avoid the “production hell” that companies such as Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Rivian (NASDAQ:RIVN)have experienced at their own proprietary manufacturing facilities.
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.
Four versions of the electric crossover will be available. The different trims are named Extreme, Ultra, Sport and One. The One, Extreme, and Ultra will all feature a dual-motor, all-wheel-drive setup, with the One and Extreme capable of 350 miles of range and a claimed 60-mph sprint of 3.6 seconds. The Ultra can run 340 miles on a charge and hit 60 mph in 3.9 seconds, while the single-motor, front-wheel-drive Sport’s battery can last 250 miles, and its 60-mph sprint should be closer to seven seconds.
The first 5,000 will be the Ocean One. After that, the series production top trim, the Ocean Extreme, will enter production. Fisker says it had more than 62,000 reservations at the end of Q3 this year, meaning the Magna lines are booked into 2024.
In January 2023, the company wants to begin converting reservations for the Extreme into orders.
Fisker says the Ocean Extreme will start at $68,999 before destination fees, while the base Sport model will cost $37,499.