Mumbai : November 17, 2022, will be the D-Day for the US-based Fisker Inc., and its Chairman and CEO, Henrik Fisker, as the commercial production of Ocean SUV, the maiden model of the 6-year old EV startup begins at Magna International’s plant in Graz, Austria, on this day. Fisker Inc. is becoming the latest OEM in the global automotive industry.
In this OEM’s case, its founder’s name automotive space as a designer will also lend itself to build the car brand. Building Fisker as a car brand can be a job easier said than done in the highly competitive automotive market. “It’s very difficult to build any brand,” admits Fisker. So what’s the strategy for Fisker Inc. to build its brand?
Sustainability, design, and innovation are the three pillars Fisker Inc. wants to build its business and brand on. With growing environmental challenges in the backdrop, there are a growing number of consumers who have sustainability as a key factor influencing their purchase decisions. And Fisker is betting on the Ocean to have a greater appeal to such consumers.
“They want to be part of it (sustainable solution of creating a clean environment), if it’s a product they like. They don’t want to go and buy something expensive they don’t like just because it’s sustainable,” Fisker told ETAuto. The 50 kg of recycled plastics and biodegradable materials in the Ocean SUV, which weighs up to 2.5 tonnes depending on the variant, could be a factor for the customer response to the Ocean, mainly from the USA and Europe, and a few are from India too.
Fisker Ocean has 4 variants priced between USD 37,499 (around INR 30.46 lakh) and USD 68,999 (around INR 56 lakh) in the US. According to the company, over 62,000 units have been booked by customers so far. The base variant Sport priced at USD 37,499, and a mid-variant called Ultra (USD 49,999) are sold out for the year, Fisker added. The Graz contract manufacturing plant has a capacity to produce 50,000 vehicles for Fisker Inc. A new plant may be added in Europe.
Most of the reservations, the company says, is for the top-end Extreme variant which is powered by a battery pack with NMC chemistry. The Sport variant, which has a more affordable LFP chemistry battery pack, will see deliveries by September 2023. The variants with the NMC packs, which inherently offer better energy density, have a certified driving range of 630 km, while the ones with the LFP battery chemistry have a driving range of 440 km.
The designer’s challenge
Credited for designing the successful BMW Z8 sports car, Fisker was also involved with the BMW X5 but he can’t take credit for that “because there were other people who finished it”.
Even after a few decades in the industry, designing the Ocean SUV wasn’t an easy task for the 59-year old designer-entrepreneur. “It was definitely a challenge because I wanted to have these sculptural fenders like a sports car, I wanted to have a faster windscreen, a very sporty silhouette, but then it still had to work with all the functionality you expect from an SUV,” Fisker said.
New SUV, crossover with ‘radical’ design in offing
The 4.7-metre long SUV is planned to have a bigger SUV sibling in 2025. What will come in between them is the crossover model with a project name PEAR (Personal Electric Automotive Revolution). The car is yet to be revealed but Fisker had told ETAuto that the company is working ton an entry-level price of USD 20,000 for the 4.5-metre long model.
While the Ocean comes across as a modern SUV with a largely appealing design, the PEAR’s form and appearance could spark some debates. “It’s so radical that even scares me a little bit,” Fisker said.
The model is also planned for an India launch. Though in a totally different segment, and era, the car could be in the league of the WagonR or Santro whose designs attracted contrasting views during their market journey. “It’s gonna be something where people go, ‘Hmmm, you gonna trust Henrik that he knows what he’s doing, because I gotta get used to this thing’. It’s a little funky, and risky, but I kind of like it because it’s unusual, but I think it has really good proportions,” he said.
The versatile designer believes that “you have to take some risks in the design”. And floating a car company is taking an even bigger risk. That too for a second time. So, will its Founder Chairman & CEO holding a track record of designing models like the BMW Z8, Aston Martin Vantage, and DB9 come handy in building Fisker Inc.’s brand, and chances of success?
“I don’t think they (customers) doubt I can design a good car. I think the real challenge this time was we didn’t start with a sports car or a supercar. We started with an SUV, which we got really good feedback from customers on design.”
With a strong pitch to be a company building the world’s sustainability vehicles, Fisker Inc. will need a fine mix of design and market strategies for sustainability in the many markets across the world that it plans to play in.
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