LOS ANGELES — On Friday, May 5, Fisker Inc. delivered its first Ocean electric SUV to its first customer. Fisker CEO Henrik Fisher handed over the keys to the car owner at the newly opened Fisker Center+ facility in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The new electric SUV was an Ocean One launch edition model in Great White exterior paint with 22-inch AirGlider Black alloy wheels. It also featured a White sea salt interior with white Alcantara seats. The Ocean offers an all electric range of up to 350 miles. Pricing on the launch edition, called the Ocean One, starts at $68,999.
On Monday, the EV maker opened a sales center called the Fisker Lounge in Munich, Germany. In addition, Fisker registered its first Ocean electric vehicle in the country.
“I’m super excited to be in Copenhagen to hand over the first Fisker Ocean,” said Chairman and CEO Henrik Fisker. “It was great to kick off Germany as well this week. Our multi-country launch strategy is starting to take shape. I would like to thank all of our Ocean customers for your patience. The last few months we have been working through obligation and supplier readiness.”
Fisker earned certification to begin deliveries in Europe in late April. However, it hasn’t earned a certificate to begin U.S. deliveries quite yet. CEO Henrik Fisker told CNBC it hopes to earn regulatory approval to begin U.S. deliveries by the end of May.
“2023 is an important year for Fisker as we work to ramp up production and customer deliveries,” Henrik Fisker added. “We now have almost 1,000 people, more correctly, I think 940 or so people in the Fisker team, and they’re all working hard on various initiatives to support our successful launch of our class meeting and they’re working with things such as trading, after sales, service, repairs, charging, et cetera. Everything is set up for seamless delivery of our vehicles. We are excited to shift gears from a startup into a revenue-generating car company and that’s happening as we speak.”
Fisker announced its first quarter earnings report just a few days later—on Tuesday, May 9. The company reported revenue of $198,000 which is much lower than what analysts predicted of $14.4 million. That equals to a loss of 38 cents per share of Fisker stock which is trading at around $6 per share.
The EV maker says it has 65,000 customer reservations for the Ocean as of May 8. Fisker also updated its production figures for this year. The company now says its manufacturing partner, Magna International, will build between 32,000-36,000 Ocean EVs this year, which is lower than its earlier estimate of 42,400 Oceans.
“And of course, in the coming months, we are going to start holding more and more customer centers, lounges, promoting our lounge in L.A. later this month,” Henrik Fisker explained. “We are planning to showcase our future product portfolio with several drivable prototypes at our inaugural investor event on August 3 this year. And we’re also going to be unveiling the radical PEAR as a fully drivable vehicle.”
The PEAR stands for “Personal Electric Automotive Revolution” and is expected to start at $29,900 before incentives. The EV maker says it has 6,000 reservations for the PEAR, as of May 8.
“On the PEAR, I would say that the vehicle holds opportunity for Fisker to offer a product at a more accessible price, potentially creating the opportunity to be an affordable EV at a good time for the market,” said Stephanie Brinley, principal automotive analyst at S&P Global Mobility. “Even delayed to 2025, the vehicle is expected to arrive when the EV curious buyer may be more willing to try shifting to EV than they are even today, as the expectation is that U.S. infrastructure will continue to improve and consumers will continue to learn about EVs, see them in increasing numbers in their neighborhoods and be more willing to make the leap.”
For more info about the Fisker Ocean EV or Fisker PEAR EV, go to: https://www.fiskerinc.com.
