Fisker shows its upcoming PEAR small SUV, at optimistic $30k base price
Fisker has been teasing us about its upcoming PEAR SUV for over a year now, and we finally got a chance to see the upcoming small SUV in the flesh today.
Fisker held its “Product Vision Day” today in Huntington Beach, California, and showed us prototypes of some upcoming vehicles, and we got to see the PEAR in the flesh for the first time.
The PEAR is Fisker’s second SUV, a little smaller than the Ocean, but intended to have a much lower base price – $29,900, before tax credits. This means $22,400 after tax credits, which is about as low a price anyone can ask for from a small SUV these days.
And Fisker does plan to produce the vehicle in the USA, at the old Lordstown plant, which will enable it to qualify for tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act.
To enable this low price, Fisker says that the PEAR will have 35% fewer parts than the Ocean, making for simpler production and therefore lower costs. It’s calling the platform “SLV1,” which stands for “Simple, Light, Volume.”
As one example, Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker stated that all four seats will use the same armrest design, so instead of making four different parts, Fisker only needs to make one.
The PEAR will be made of steel, which is cheaper (but heavier) than aluminum, and Fisker would like to eventually hit 1 million vehicles annually – but that aspiration is obviously way off in the future.
Fisker still says that every vehicle it makes must have at least a few unique features, and one of PEAR’s highlights is its unique “Houdini door.”
This is the company’s name for its rear hatch which vanishes into the car body, leaving a big opening that won’t swing out and hit anything or cause you to bonk your head on it. You can see it in action in this portion of Fisker’s video (timestamped at 1:03:20).
In addition to rear storage, the PEAR will have a front drawer-like storage area, which Fisker is trying to call a “froot,” a portmanteau of front + boot, and which everyone else is just going to call a frunk anyway. You’re too late on that one, Fisker.
But it is different than a lot of frunks we’ve seen – instead of being under the hood, it slides out from behind the front grille area, potentially providing a flatter space than most frunks do. Fisker said that it was insulated, and thus could be used for transporting hot or cold items – though we didn’t hear whether it has its own HVAC. We didn’t get to see it in action, but you can see a glimpse of it in this part of Fisker’s video (timestamp 1:01:03).
The interior of the PEAR we saw today is nothing like initial interior images, with a much more spartan feel to it. Of course, this is still a prototype (which, as we overheard at the event, was finished this morning), so nothing is final, but we would imagine that a spartan interior might be necessary to get a price under $30k.
And frankly, from what we saw, it looked pretty cool. It gave off Honda Element vibes, a vehicle that was famous for having a simple and usable interior that you didn’t mind getting a little dirty, a feature which owners really liked. More focused on utilitarianism than cushiness.
But Fisker also wanted to highlight just how much interior space the PEAR has. It will have both 5- and 6-seat options, with the 6-seat option coming with a bench seat in the front. To demonstrate the PEAR’s capacity, Fisker had 6 employees pile out of the car at the beginning of the presentation:
The PEAR will have a feature Fisker calls “Lounge mode,” which will reconfigure the seats (including the front seats) to create a flat space within the car for lounging around, and which will be large enough to lay down in. Should be great for car camping.
And all of this is supposedly coming in 2025. Between this car, the Alaska, and the Ronin, Fisker will go from having one car which just started shipping in 2023, to four cars in just two years time. Quite a big ask, particularly from a company with 1,000 employees, so we wouldn’t be surprised if we see some delays.
But if you want to get in line for whichever year the PEAR comes, reservations are open now on Fisker’s website, at $250 a pop.
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Tesla has changed the meaning of “Full Self-Driving”, also known as “FSD”, to give up on its original promise of delivering unsupervised autonomy.
Since 2016, Tesla has claimed that all its vehicles in production would be capable of achieving unsupervised self-driving capability.
CEO Elon Musk has claimed that it would happen by the end of every year since 2018.
Tesla has even sold a software package, known as “Full Self-Driving Capability” (FSD), for up to $15,000 to customers, promising that the advanced driver-assist system would become fully autonomous through over-the-air software updates.
Almost a decade later, the promise has yet to be fulfilled, and Tesla has already confirmed that all vehicles produced between 2016 and 2023 don’t have the proper hardware to deliver unsupervised self-driving as promised.
Musk has been discussing the upgrade of the computers in these vehicles to appease owners, but there’s no concrete plan to implement it.
While there’s no doubt that Tesla has promised unsupervised self-driving capabilities to FSD buyers between 2016 and 2023, the automaker has since updated its language and now only sells “Full Self-Driving (Supervised)” to customers:
The fine print mentions that it doesn’t make the vehicle “autonomous” and doesn’t promise it as a feature.
In other words, people buying FSD today are not really buying the capability of unsupervised self-driving as prior buyers did.
Furthermore, Tesla’s board has just submitted a new, unprecedented CEO compensation package for shareholders’ approval, which could give Musk up to $1 trillion in stock options pending the achievement of certain milestones.
One of these milestones is Tesla having “10 Million Active FSD Subscriptions.”
At first glance, this would be hopeful for FSD buyers since part of Musk’s compensation would be dependent on delivering on the FSD promises.
However, Tesla has changed the definition of FSD in the compensation package with an extremely vague one”
“FSD” means an advanced driving system, regardless of the marketing name used, that is capable of performing transportation tasks that provide autonomous or similar functionality under specified driving conditions.
Tesla now considers FSD only an “advanced driving system” that should be “capable of performing transportation tasks that prove autonomous or similar functionality”.
The current version of FSD, which requires constant supervising by the driver, could easily fit that description.
Therefore, FSD now doesn’t come with the inital promise of Tesla owners being able to go to sleep in their vehicles and wake up at their destination – a promise that Musk has used to sell Tesla vehicles for years.
Electrek’s Take
The way Tesla discusses autonomy with customers and investors versus how it presents it in its court filings and legally binding documents is strikingly different.
It should be worrying to anyone with an interest in this.
With this very vague description in the new CEO compensation package, Tesla could literally lower the price of FSD and even remove base Autopilot to push customers toward FSD and give Musk hundreds of billions of dollars in shares in the process.
There’s precedent for Tesla decreasing pricing on FSD. Initially, Musk said that Tesla would gradually increase the price of the FSD package as the features improved and approached unsupervised autonomy.
That was true for a while, but then Tesla started slashing FSD prices, which are now down $7,000 from their high in 2023:
The trend is quite apparent and coincidentally began when Tesla’s sales started to decline.
FSD is now a simple ADAS system without any promise of unsupervised self-driving. This might quite honestly be one of the biggest cases of false advertising or bait-and-switch ever.
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The new Chevy Bolt EV is set to enter production later this year, with one fewer shift, following GM’s reduction in production plans at several US plants. Apart from the Bolt, GM promised a new family of affordable EVs. Are those, too, now at risk?
GM says more affordable EVs are coming, but when?
GM remained the number two EV maker in the US after back-to-back record sales months in July and August. However, with the $7,500 federal tax credit set to expire at the end of the month, the company expects a slowdown.
On Thursday, GM sent a note to employees at its Spring Hill plant in Tennessee, outlining plans to reduce output of two Cadillac electric SUVs, the Lyriq and Vistiq.
A source close to the matter confirmed the news to Reuters, saying the production halt will begin in December. GM will significantly reduce output during the first five months of 2026, according to the source.
GM is also delaying the second shift at its Fairfax Assembly Plant in Kansas City, where the new Chevy Bolt is slated to enter production later this year. The Bolt will be the first of a new series of affordable EVs that GM intends to build in Kansas.
However, those too, may now be in jeopardy. According to local news outlets, GM Korea Technical Research Center (GMTCK), a spin-off of GM’s Korean subsidiary, was recently cut out of a secret small EV project it was developing.
GMTCK president Brian McMurray reportedly announced internally last month during a trip to the US that the project was cancelled and only 30% to 40% complete.
A GM Korea spokesperson clarified that “the EV project being led by GMTCK was a global undertaking, not undertaken solely by GM Korea. The spokesperson added, “The project itself has not been canceled; the role of the Korean team has simply changed.”
The new electric car, dubbed “Fun Family,” was scheduled to launch under the Chevy and Buick brands, using a single platform. Production was expected to begin in 2027 with deliveries starting in 2028.
GM Korea exports over 90% of the vehicles it makes to the US, but with the new auto tariffs, the subsidiary is expected to play a drastically smaller role, if any at all. The news is fueling the ongoing rumors that GM could withdraw from Korea altogether.
In addition to the tariffs, South Korea’s recently passed “Yellow Envelope Law” could make it even more difficult for GM with new labor laws.
Will this impact the affordable EVs GM is promising to launch in the US? They are scheduled to be built in Kansas, but with the R&D Center, GM’s second largest globally, following the US, claiming to be excluded from a major global EV project, it can’t be a good sign.
In the meantime, GM already has one of the most affordable electric vehicles in the US, the Chevy Equinox EV. Starting at under $35,000, the company calls it “America’s most affordable” EV with over 315 miles of range.
With the $7,500 federal tax credit still available, GM is promoting Chevy Equinox EV leases for under $250 a month. Nowadays, it’s hard to find any vehicle for under that.
Source: Newsworks Korea
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Connecticut and Rhode Island are suing the Trump administration to overturn its “baseless” decision to halt Revolution Wind, a nearly completed offshore wind farm set to deliver clean power to New England.
Attorneys General William Tong of Connecticut and Peter Neronha of Rhode Island announced Thursday that they’ll file suit in Rhode Island federal court to overturn the August 22 stop-work order from the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM). The order abruptly shut down construction without citing any violation of law or safety threats. Instead, BOEM vaguely referred to “concerns” under its Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act authority, offering no explanation.
Revolution Wind is 15 nautical miles off Rhode Island and expected to come online in 2026. Once complete, the $6 billion project would supply 350,000 homes with electricity and save ratepayers in Connecticut and Rhode Island hundreds of millions of dollars over 20 years. The project supports more than 2,500 jobs across the US, including over 1,000 union construction jobs, and has already cleared every required state and federal review. Construction is already 80% complete.
The lawsuit, to be filed against the Department of the Interior, BOEM, and their nominated leaders, argues that the stop-work order violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the agency’s authority under OCSLA. The complaint says the government’s action is arbitrary, capricious, and undermines both states’ legal and financial commitments.
“Revolution Wind is fully permitted, nearly complete, and months from providing enough American-made, clean, affordable energy to power 350,000 homes. Now, with zero justification, Trump wants to mothball the project, send workers home, and saddle Connecticut families with millions of dollars in higher energy costs,” Tong said. “This kind of erratic and reckless governing is blatantly illegal, and we’re suing to stop it.”
Neronha added, “With Revolution Wind, we have an opportunity to create good-paying jobs for Rhode Islanders, enhance energy reliability, and ensure energy cost savings while protecting our environment. And yet, this stop-work order is not even the latest development in this administration’s all-out assault on wind energy. Just yesterday, we learned of reports that the Administration is pulling in staff from several different unrelated federal agencies, including Health and Human Services, to do its bidding. This is bizarre, this is unlawful, this is potentially devastating, and we won’t stand by and watch it happen.”
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said the administration has offered no explanation nearly two weeks after the order. “We hoped to work with the Administration to lower energy costs, strengthen grid reliability, create jobs, and drive economic growth, but only if they share those goals. But if they do not, we will act to preserve this vital project and protect the energy future of Connecticut and the entire New England region,” he said.
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) called the shutdown “insane, illogical, and illegal,” while Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) said, “The Revolution Wind project has already made it through exhaustive reviews by multiple federal agencies, and I doubt Trump’s flimsy excuses for scuttling this project will stand up to legal scrutiny.”
Danish renewables developer Ørsted, which owns a 50% share in Revolution Wind, also announced Thursday that it’s suing the Trump administration in a bid to restart construction on the blocked wind farm.
Read more: Trump’s latest offshore wind cancellation is a threat to the grid – ISO New England
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