Fisker goes public, targets Tesla with Ocean SUV

The California electric vehicle start-up Fisker Inc has joined Tesla and Nikola on the IPO bandwagon, announcing it plans to go public in quarter four of 2020

That’s more than two years before it’s scheduled to launch its first vehicle, the Ocean SUV, in late 2022.

Fisker Inc is the latest vehicle of Henrik Fisker, an EV early adopter and former BMW and Aston Martin designer.

Fisker has been pushing EVs since the mid 2000s and even contributed to early designs of the Tesla Model S before a fractious break-up with Elon Musk that ended in a court settlement (Fisker won).

But while Musk has gone on to fame and even more fortune with Tesla, Fisker has struggled to get his plans up and running. He did succeed in getting the beautiful but technically troubled Karma electrified sedan into production in 2012, but Fisker Automotive went bankrupt in 2013.

But Fisker now believes the stripped back business model he has adopted for Fisker Inc will make production and achieve profitability, despite charging a low – for an EV – base price for the Ocean under US$40,000 ($57,000).

“We are really revolutionising every aspect of the car industry,” Fisker told Automotive News. “I think the car industry needs to change, I think it is too inefficient today. The consumer is paying too much for things they don’t really care about.”

Essentially, Fisker will outsource much of the technology of the Ocean to suppliers. For instance, he says the platform will be the Volkswagen Group’s dedicated MEB architecture.

Manufacturing will also be outsourced; the Ocean will only be sold through an app, meaning no bricks and mortar dealerships and servicing and storage will be looked after by a contractor.

This business model also allows Fisker Inc. to focus its budget on developing the Ocean’s software, consumer digital experience and design.

“Yes it is cool to walk down the lane on your own factory floor, but this is not about that,” Fisker told Automotive News. “This is about bringing a high-quality profitable vehicle to market.”

It’s easy to see why Fisker is keen to get in on the IPO action. EV car companies are gold right now.

Tesla is now more valuable than Toyota based on stock price despite never having made an annual profit and hydrogen start-up Nikola bounded to a US$34 billion value (it’s since dropped to US$18.9 billion) without ever selling a production vehicle.

Fisker Inc. has been valued at US$2.9 billion and will employ what’s called a reverse merger, with shell company Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp to gain its listing. Nikola employed the same strategy.

The listing on the New York stock exchange is expected to generate US$1.1 billion for the company. If that pans out then Fisker won’t need any more funds before start of Ocean production.

He even expects the company to be cash-flow positive in the first full year of Ocean production in 2023. Considering the challenges Tesla has encountered gaining profitability, Fisker would be hailed a genius if he achieved that.

The Ocean is a five-seat 4.6m wagon that will be come in both rear and all-wheel drive. It will offer up to 225kW of power, a claimed 480km range and a vegan interior. In the US it will also be offered with contract-free leasing and on subscription.

“What is really unique about our vehicle is it is the first electric vehicle that looks like a real SUV versus a crossover hatchback,” Fisker told Automotive News.  “It also has a lot of unique features including a ‘California mode’, where all the windows roll down automatically at the touch of one button.

“Several other features include a very unique user interface that we think will be the best in the world. The Ocean is very spacious and has great usability for the size. It’s nimble and easy to drive … and I think the overall dimensions of it make it very easy to live with.

“We will have several options package including one more extreme off-road option.”

Fisker is nothing if not persistent. Undoubtedly a talented designer, he contributed to the original X5 SUV and oversaw the retro Z8 sports car at BMW. In the design chief’s job at Aston Martin he was responsible for the introduction of the V8 Vantage.

But the 56-year old Danish-American has motored his way down more than one byway since leaving Aston in 2005.

Apart from the run-in with Musk and the Fisker Automotive failure, various other projects have included Fisker Coachbuild, HF Design, Henrik Fisker Lifestyle and VLF Automotive, in which Holden fan Bob Lutz is a partner. Aston Martin challenged a couple of Fisker’s designs for VLF in court but that was settled without too much drama.

Then came Fisker Inc, which was established in 2016. It first showed the Emotion sports sedan concept, but that has been delayed along with the solid state batteries Fisker was developing to power it.