Fisker Wants To Challenge Tesla, VW With Affordable Electric Car

It will have to be cheaper than the Fisker Ocean whose price is $37,499 before incentives.

Fisker electric SUV teaser

Andrei Nedelea

By: Andrei Nedelea

Mar 1, 2021 at 4:52pm ET

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Reborn Fisker has yet to sell a single vehicle, but it apparently has plans to enter what will undeniably end up becoming one of the most competitive parts of the electric vehicle segment: the affordable part of the market. We don’t exactly know how cheap Fisker intends to make this new model, but its creator wants it to have the same kind of appeal as the original Mini or VW Beetle.

Henrik Fisker wants to make what he describes as an iconic vehicle, according to Automotive News. He points to the original VW Beetle and explains

Billionaires had them, ordinary people had them. That's the sort of iconic vehicle that we are looking to make, a feel-good vehicle. I want to create a vehicle that can go across social borders.

Both the Beetle and the Mini were people’s cars and they gained cult status because they were launched in the right market context. They were both simple, utilitarian runabouts, but we wonder what a car made in this era would require in order to become a fan favorite - one thing’s certain: it will have to look radical and Mr. Fisker is totally on board with the idea, since he was quoted saying

The only thing that makes it a car is that it has four wheels and needs to be certified as a car.

We can therefore expect the model to have a radical design, whichever body style it may have. It will most likely be a crossover, though, the second after the Ocean which is set to go on sale in 2022 (production will begin in late 2021) with a starting price of $37,499; the new affordable model will have to undercut it and in order to challenge the upcoming entry level Tesla, it probably needs to cost around $25,000. VW's ID.1 could also be a rival.

In order to manufacture the Ocean, Fisker has contracted Magna Steyr and the electric SUV will be built in Graz, Austria. Other automakers also rely on Magna Steyr to build their models, including the electric Jaguar i-Pace.

Gallery: Fisker Ocean

Fisker Ocean

The new affordable Fisker will be built in partnership with Taiwan’s Foxconn, Apple’s contract manufacturer (known for building the iPhone). Foxconn changed its business model in 2020 and announced it would also begin manufacturing products under its own brand.

Both companies will invest in the model which, like the Ocean, will most likely be built on Foxconn’s new proprietary EV platform. This has not yet been confirmed, but it seems like the logical step.

When asked by the Wall Street Journal where this new cheaper Fisker might be manufactured, Henrik Fisker hinted that Foxconn’s factory in Wisconsin was an ‘ obvious ‘ choice. He added that

What do you think?

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They’ve got a factory there and quite a lot of land with quite a lot of possibility for expansion. haven’t made a final decision on that.

If you were wondering how far along the model is, Henrik Fisker said the it was in the 3D modeling phase. This means it’s not very advanced, but it is apparently slated to enter production in late 2023 with plans to be sold in North America, Europe, China, India.