IPhone builder Foxconn is working on an electric car with Fisker
Foxconn, the Taiwan-based electronics manufacturing company best known for assembling the Apple iPhone, is working on an agreement with the California electric car company Fisker to develop an electric vehicle, the companies announced Wednesday.
Fisker Inc. went public last year through a SPAC merger with Spartan Energy Acquisition.
Founded by car designer Henrik Fisker, the company already has an agreement with Magna, an automotive contract manufacturing company. Magna is expected to start building the Fisker Ocean electric SUV by the end of 2022. The Ocean is based on engineering developed by Magna but modified by Fisker.
Fisker is now working on a similar arrangement with Foxconn, according to a joint press release from both companies. The companies announced a memorandum of understanding and did not reveal any financial terms of the potential deal.
The Fisker and Foxconn vehicle would be Fisker’s second model after the Ocean. The two firms released few details other than a vague design sketch of the car. In an interview with CNN International, Fisker said the vehicle would cost less than $30,000 and would be targeted at urban commuters. He did not say in which markets that price would apply, though.
“Not unlike when Isaac Newton realized the powers of gravity, the inspiration for this project has come from some unconventional sources,” the release quoted Mr. Fisker as saying. “The design sketch hints at the direction we are taking. However, with the level of innovation planned for this vehicle, I intend to keep the final design a surprise until the last possible moment!”
With large wheels and a body like a sports car, the sketch most closely resembles the coupé-shaped SUVs made by a number of luxury automakers, such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
The companies plan to produce more than 250,000 of the vehicles a year, according to Fisker, with production set to start by the end of 2023.
Foxconn Technology Group Chairman Young-way Liu touted the company’s expertise in electric motors, control modules and batteries in a statement announcing the arrangement.
“The collaboration between our firms means that it will only take 24 months to produce the next Fisker vehicle — from research and development to production, reducing half of the traditional time required to bring a new vehicle to market,” Young-way Liu said in the statement.
At the beginning of 2020 Foxconn said it was looking into making electric vehicles with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. FCA later merged with France’s PSA to create Stellantis. Foxconn did not immediately reply to a request for updates on those plans. Nick Cappa, the Stellantis spokesman in the US, said he had no updates on those discussions.
In January, Foxconn announced a deal with Geely, the Chinese parent company of Volvo and Lotus, to develop and produce vehicles for other automakers.
Henrik Fisker, the founder of Fisker Inc., was once a designer for Aston Martin and BMW. He also designed the Fisker Karma for his previous car company, Fisker Automotive, which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2013 and its assets were eventually sold off.
To date, Fisker has 12,000 pre-paid reservations for the Fisker Ocean SUV at a cost of $250 each. Once in production, the SUV will sell for a starting price of $37,500 before tax incentives.
