The deliveries of the Fisker Ocean electric SUV will begin by July 2023; a locally-made Sub Rs. 20 lakh EV known as Project Pear is bound for 2024
Fisker Inc is planning to enter the Indian market with the commencement of its first dealership in Delhi NCR in a few months. The Ocean electric SUV will be its first product and its deliveries will begin in July 2023. The production version of the Ocean was first showcased at the 2021 LA Auto Show in November 2021 and it made its European debut earlier this year at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Set to enter production this November at the Graz manufacturing facility in Austria, it will arrive in select European markets shortly thereafter. The California-based electric carmaker is the successor of Fisker Automotive, which sold the Karma plug-in range-extended electric sports sedan. Founded by Henrik Fisker, it is operational since 2016.
The Fisker Ocean has already received more than 60,000 bookings and a few of them are from India. Thus, the brand will observe how the market develops in India and start building its presence. While the Ocean’s orders are at their peak, Fisker will, more interestingly, bring in a locally produced sub Rs. 20 lakh electric car for India in 2024.
With the Indian EV space steadily growing, the project Pear will target a big market share. It is being engineered in the United States and is hoped to be different from the current crop of EVs, mostly SUVs, sold in India. The software engineering is supported by Fisker’s people at its technical centre in Hyderabad and the local team comprises around 50 engineers are also involved.
To have the production unit established, Fisker could invest around $700-800 million (Rs. 5,686-6,498 crore approximately) in India with an annual production capacity of around 50,000 units and a separate battery manufacturing plant could also be part of the plan. Fisker is exploring JVs to make this possible as a couple of Indian companies have approached the brand.
Fisker may as well utilise Foxconn’s manufacturing facility to produce EVs locally and India is expected to play a significant role in its growth trajectory in the near future. Back to the Ocean, it has a claimed range of up to 630 km in the WLTP cycle and it will be available in multiple battery configurations globally.
