The Fisker Ocean 2023 The electric crossover finally went into production this month at contractor Magna Steyr’s plant in Graz, Austria. Now Fisker has released a short, accelerated video of the process.
The approximately 3 minute video shows a fairly typical automotive assembly process. Robots weld and glue pieces of metal together to form a body, which is then transported to different stations for painting and fitting different components until it can roll off the assembly line as a finished vehicle.
Robots handle a lot of that assembly work, including installing the Ocean’s glass roof and battery, but human workers also do a lot, including installing much of inside.
Fisker Ocean 2023
Contract manufacturing allowed Fisker to avoid the expense of building its own factory, as well as the headaches electric vehicle companies like Tesla, Rivian and Lucid experienced in ramping up production of their first models. . Even established car manufacturers sometimes outsource the production of certain models. The same Austrian factory that builds the Ocean also assembled the Jaguar I Pace.
magna too provided the platform for the Ocean, which is married to a Fisker-designed body first shown in concept form at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show. New features include a California mode that simultaneously lowers the side windows and rear hatch glass, and a Limo mode that allows rear passengers to control temperature and sound.
Fisker showed off the production version at the 2021 Los Angeles Auto Show, citing a base price of $37,499 for the entry-level Sport trim. This results in a 275hp single-motor front-wheel-drive powertrain, 0-60mph in 6.9 seconds and an estimated range of 250 miles.
Fisker also plans to offer mid-tier Ultra and high-end Extreme versions. The latter’s dual-motor all-wheel-drive powertrain is rated at 550 hp, delivering 0-60 mph in 3.6 seconds. Fisker also previously quoted a range of 350 miles and a base price of $68,999 for this model.
The first 5,000 Oceans will be special edition Ocean Ones based on the Extreme trim level, but with unique styling features such as 22-inch F3 SlipStream wheels and Big Sur Blue paint. All 5,000 sold out in 30 days, with customers making deposits of $5,000 to secure one. Fisker claims to have more than 63,000 ocean reservations in total and is reportedly considering expanding production, possibly with a second manufacturing site in the USA
It wouldn’t be the first Fisker EV slated for US production. The company operated Foxconn build a more affordable model code name Project Pear in Ohio starting in 2024, at the same plant that was to build the Lordstown Stamina electric van.