BARCELONA -- The Fisker Ocean full-electric midsize SUV will start at 41,560 euros ($46,520) when it goes on sale later this year, the U.S.-based startup has announced.
Fisker founder and CEO Henrik Fisker launched the Ocean in Europe at the Mobile World Congress here on Monday.
Fisker will start European and U.S. deliveries before year-end, with production scheduled to begin November 17 at contract manufacturer Magna Steyr's factory in Graz, Austria.
"Europe is critical to the company's success,” Fisker said in a statement.
The Ocean's first European markets will be Norway, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Austria, with the rest of Europe and the UK joining through 2023. Fisker will start U.S. deliveries in December.
Fisker is pitching the car as a premium SUV with a longer range and lower cost than equivalent models from rivals.
The entry Sport model has a predicted range of 440 km (273 miles) while the 57,500 euro Ultra will offer a range of 610 km rising to 630 km for the 69,950 euro Extreme model, Fisker estimates ahead of official testing.
The entry Mercedes-Benz EQC starts at 73,280 euros and has a maximum range of 400 km to 470 km while the base Tesla Model Y is 53,940 euros and has a range of 505 km to 530 km.
All prices are for the German market.
“Range is the driving factor for the electric-car purchasing process, so the Ultra and Extreme models are very well positioned,” Christian Marti, head of sales and marketing for Europe, told Automotive News Europe.
The lower price of the Sport model is partly due to the use of cheaper lithium ion phosphate (LFP) batteries, compared with nickel manganese and cobalt chemistries in the Ultra and Extreme. Batteries for the car are supplied by China's CATL.
Henrik Fisker, who previously designed cars for BMW and Aston Martin, has also touted the Ocean's looks as being one of its stand-out features.
“It would be pretty quick to name five really cool EVs at 100,000 euros. But can you name five around 40,000 euros? That's a little more difficult. So that's the market we went into,” Fisker told Automotive News Europe in an interview.
Features inside the car include a rotating 17-inch dashboard screen, optional solar panels in the roof, and a function that warns drivers they are about to hit the curb, thus avoiding damaging the wheels.
Magna Steyr has capacity to build 50,000 Oceans a year over its planned seven-year life cycle.
Fisker has taken 33,000 refundable deposits for the car to date, Henrik Fisker said at the car's unveiling. Europe has accounted for about 30 percent of those deposits with the rest from the U.S., due in part to the company's higher visibility there since being listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2020.
The company will control sales itself via a series of brand centers in high-traffic areas in locations such as Munich and London.
Smaller test drive and hand-over offices will be situated toward the outskirts of those towns, while servicing will be handled by third party companies.
Fisker, for example, has signed up spare parts chain Mekonomen Group in Scandinavia and Bridgestone Group via it's Speedy network in France and in Germany through it Pitstop and Reiff-ABS networks.
