Fisker Ocean SUV commences production in Austria on schedule
American EV automaker Fisker Inc. has just hit a major company milestone years in the making. Contract manufacturer Magna Steyr has officially begun production of the Fisker Ocean SUV at its carbon neutral facility in Graz, Austria. With Magna’s help, this second iteration of the Fisker brand continues to prove the naysayers wrong while moving to deliver a truly unique looking EV.
Shortly after its rebirth as Fisker Inc. ($FSR), the American automaker began teasing an all-electric SUV focused on sustainability and a distinctive design founder Henrik Fisker is known for. There have been plenty of bumps along the way, but Fisker truly got the Ocean’s wheels turning so to speak, when it signed a contract manufacturing agreement with Magna International.
As one of the top five largest contract manufacturers in the world, Magna was a brilliant partner to bring onboard to help get the Fisker Ocean over the production finish line. It was on this same day one year ago that Henrik and the Fisker team officially debuted the Ocean SUV in front of a crowd at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
Since then, Fisker has an reported increasing appetite for the Ocean ahead of production, most recently tallying over 63,000 reservations following its Q3 report. Furthermore, its 2023 Sport and Ultra trims of the Ocean are already sold out in the US. Throughout all the updates the past 365 days, Fisker continually relayed that Ocean production remained and track, and it wasn’t lying.
Ocean Production kicks off a new era of Fisker EVs
Fisker shared a brief press release this morning, confirming the long anticipated start of Ocean production in Austria, where Henrik Fisker has been frequently visiting to monitor the flagship EV’s progress. He shared his thoughts:
It’s an emotional day as we start production of the world’s most sustainable vehicle in record time – on time – in the carbon-neutral factory in Graz. We’ve challenged the old model of longer development timelines, reflecting our team’s agility and dedication to creating emotionally desirable vehicles with the newest, most unique, experience on our price range. We have the highest quality at launch, aligned with our commitment to leading the industry in sustainability. More than 63,000 customers worldwide share our enthusiasm. It’s a day for our team and fans to celebrate.
Good on you, Henrik. You deserve to celebrate this moment because many have doubted you. The team should absolutely celebrate today, but get back to work tomorrow. The next task will be delivering the Fisker Ocean SUVs and dealing with any and all issues that come with bespoke vehicles and scaled production.
Speaking of which, Fisker states that Magna Steyr will manufacture over 300 Ocean SUVs in Q1 of 2023, rapidly increasing to 8,000 units in Q2, and 15,000 in Q3. By the end of next year, Fisker expects to see 42,400 completed Oceans in all.
By debuting an EV with starting MSRP of $37,499, Fisker had also made good on a promise to offer EV below $30k, should that customer qualify for the full $7,500 federal tax credit. However, new terms of the Inflation Reduction Act signed back in August now disqualify the Fisker Ocean from any federal tax credits since its production is overseas. The company has, however, found a few workarounds and is even working with Magna Steyr to possibly establish manufacturing on US soil.
Fisker’s second model, the PEAR will be built in the US by Foxconn at its recently acquired Lordstown plant in Ohio. That EV could very well qualify for federal tax credits, would could be tremendous for consumers considering Fisker Inc. says it will arrive at a starting price below $30,000.
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Tesla’s Q2 results are in, and they are way, way down from Q2 of 2024. At the same time, Nissan seems to be in serious trouble and the first-ever all-electric Dodge muscle car is getting recalled because its dumb engine noises are the wrong kind of dumb engine noises. All this and more on today’s deeply troubled episode of Quick Charge!
We’ve also got an awesome article from Micah Toll about a hitherto unexplored genre of electric lawn equipment, a $440 million mining equipment deal, and a list of incompetent, corrupt, and stupid politicians who voted away their constituents’ futures to line their pockets.
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OpenAI is distancing itself from Robinhood‘s latest crypto push after the trading platform began offering tokenized shares of OpenAI and SpaceX to users in Europe.
“These ‘OpenAI tokens’ are not OpenAI equity,” OpenAI wrote on X. “We did not partner with Robinhood, were not involved in this, and do not endorse it.”
The company said that “any transfer of OpenAI equity requires our approval — we did not approve any transfer,” and warned users to “please be careful.”
Robinhood announced the launch Monday from Cannes, France, as part of a broader product showcase focused on tokenized equities, staking, and a new blockchain infrastructure play. The company’s stock surged above $100 to hit a new all-time high following the news.
“These tokens give retail investors indirect exposure to private markets, opening up access, and are enabled by Robinhood’s ownership stake in a special purpose vehicle,” a Robinhood spokesperson said in response to the OpenAI post.
Robinhood offered 5 euros worth of OpenAI and SpaceX tokens to eligible EU users who signed up to trade stock tokens by July 7. The assets are issued under the EU’s looser investor restrictions via Robinhood’s crypto platform.
“This is about expanding access,” said Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood’s SVP and GM of crypto. “The goal with tokenization is to let anyone participate in this economy.”
The episode highlights the dynamic between crypto platforms seeking to democratize access to financial products and the companies whose names and equity are being represented on-chain
U.S. users cannot access these tokens due to regulatory restrictions.
Despite the warnings, BYD continues introducing new discounts. On Wednesday, BYD’s luxury off-road brand began offering over 50% Huawei’s smart driving tech.
BYD introduces new discounts on smart driving tech
After BYD cut prices again in May, the China Automobile Manufacturers Association (CAMA) warned that the ultra-low prices are “triggering a new round of price war panic.”
Although they didn’t single out BYD, it was pretty obvious. BYD slashed prices across 22 of its vehicles by up to 34%, triggering several automakers to follow suit in China.
BYD’s cheapest EV, the Seagull, typically starts at about $10,000 (66,800 yuan). After the price cuts, the Seagull is listed at under $8,000 (55,800 yuan).
It doesn’t look like China’s EV leader plans to slow down anytime soon. Fang Cheng Bao, BYD’s luxury off-road brand, introduced new discounts on Huawei’s smart driving tech on Wednesday.
The limited-time offer cuts the price of Huawei’s Qiankun Intelligent Driving High-end Function Package to just 12,000 yuan ($1,700).
Buyers who order the smart driving tech in July will save over 50% compared to its typical price of 32,000 yuan ($4,500).
Earlier this year, Fang Chang Bao launched the Tai 3, its most affordable vehicle, starting at 139,800 yuan ($19,300). The Tai 3 is about the size of the Tesla Model Y, but costs about half as much.
The Tai 3 will spearhead a new sub-brand of electric SUVs following the more premium Bao 8 and Bao 5 hybrid SUVs.
BYD’s luxury off-road brand sold 18,903 vehicles last month, up 50% from May and 605% compared to last year. Fang Cheng Bao has now sold over 10,000 vehicles for three consecutive months.
The Chinese EV giant sold 382,585 vehicles in total in June, an increase of 12% from last year. In the first half of the year, BYD’s cumulative sales reached over 2.1 million, a YOY increase of 33%.
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