Features
28 Feb 22

Fisker unveils European version of Ocean

The Fisker Ocean has made its European debut at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Deliveries should follow closely after the production starts mid-November. The American start-up aims at user-chooser customers and a subscription model at a fleet level.

If you don’t know who Fisker is, CEO Henrik Fisker made it immediately apparent in his speech at MWC2022: “We are a new company for a new world.” The first model of that new company is the Ocean, which broke its European cover on 28 February.

The Ocean is an all-electric, mid-size SUV rivalling the Audi E-Tron and BMW iX. With Fisker’s career as an automotive designer in mind - think about the iconic BMW Z8 and the Aston Martin DB9 - the Ocean oozes style and wants to push the boundaries of sustainability. "The desire was to design and produce THE cool looking electric car. And we succeeded", says Henrik Fisker. "It has that powerful, beautiful sculpture that sits firmly on the road, it is clean, drives smoothly and comes at a very attractive price."

The Fisker Ocean is not only about zero-emission driving, the interior is vegan and made from ethically sourced, upcycled materials like plastic bottles, reducing the carbon footprint of fabricating the interior. That cabin looks super clean in Tesla style, with a towering touch screen as a critical feature. It’s in portrait mode, unless you pick the Revolve option. Then it can rotate towards landscape mode. Fisker can update the car’s systems OTA (over the air).

Two battery packs

Though details about battery capacity remain undisclosed, Fisker offers a choice between a Touring Pack, with a projected range of 440 kilometres and a Hyper Pack reaching a simulated 630 kilometres between charges. No timings for those chargings have been unveiled, but the company announced that thanks to an optional solar roof panel, customers can reclaim 2,000 kilometres offered by the sun. 

Both battery packs have a so-called Powerbank system with intelligent features such as bi-directional charging, the supply of an emergency boost to another EV and the ability to power external appliances.

A First Edition series will mark the start of the Ocean. After that, trim levels come as the entry-level Sport (£34,900), a more dynamic Ultra (£48,900) which is best suited for the user-chooser fleet customers, and an all-in Extreme (£59,900). In the premium field, the announced pricing is competitive.

Downpayment

Fisker doesn’t provide a business-specific version. Nevertheless, the brand confirmed eyeing user-chooser customers in European fleets. The specification level is already attractive on the entry model, with impressive ADAS technology and limited options. A subscription model is also under development with flat-rate pricing, including maintenance and service. However, unlike Lynk & Co, Fisker will demand a downpayment before handing over the vehicle.

The European versions of the Ocean are produced locally at the facility of Magna Steyr in Graz, Austria. Plans are that the first production run leaves the factory on the 17th of November. Like the assermbling and production of the vehicle, servicing and maintenance are outsourced to a selected number of third party professionals combined with pick-up and delivery service. 

Already more than 33,000 pre-orders have been made for the Ocean. And Henrik Fisker expects to sell 60,000 Ocean models a year in Europe and about 90,000 in the U.S. Next year Fisker will present its second model, the Fisker PEAR, which is a more compact entry-level electric vehicle below $30,000. And thereafter comes an electric sports car and a fourth to be defined model. Fisker Inc. projects over one million vehicles will be made from 2022 to 2027 in Europe, the USA and Asia.

Image source: Fleet Europe, 2022. 

Authored by: Steven Schoefs