Fisker and Foxconn are planning a new EV for 2023

Fisker has announced a large-scale electric vehicle project with the Apple contract manufacturer Hon Hai aka Foxconn. The model, which will apparently not be an ordinary electric car, will be Fisker’s second model after the Ocean electric SUV.

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Both partners will develop an electric vehicle in a “new segment” under the project name PEAR (Personal Electric Automotive Revolution), as Fisker has now announced. The vehicle is to be built by Foxconn for global markets from the fourth quarter of 2023. The goal is an annual production volume of more than 250,000 vehicles. However, these are still plans, not binding contracts: According to Fisker, the two companies have only signed a letter of intent.

The Stromer, developed together with Foxconn, will be Fisker’s second electric model after the Ocean SUV, which contract manufacturer Magna will produce in Europe from the end of 2022. The Ocean was initially to be based on Volkswagen’s MEB, but the production model will be based on an electric car architecture from production partner Magna. Foxconn had presented its electric car platform MIH in October 2020.

Project PEAR will probably use this platform, which is also indicated by the timetable: It is only about two and a half years until the planned start of production. Since it is part of Fisker’s basic concept to work with a partner in production, for example with Volkswagen’s MEB platform, as well as with Magna, the use of Foxconn technology is very likely. Geely’s SEA platform could also be a possibility, as Geely and Foxconn want to set up an electric car manufacturing partnership.

After the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, the details are now to be clarified in working groups on the topics of design, technology, engineering and manufacturing. Due to the tight schedule, the talks are to be concluded as early as the second quarter and then a formal partnership agreement signed.

At the launch, Foxconn had announced that the hardware and software components of the platform could be combined in a modular fashion. With MIH, the company wants to create an “Android system of the EV industry”. By 2027, Foxconn wants to be present in every tenth electric car worldwide with components or services.

Fisker wants four electric vehicle models by 2025

The “groundbreaking” electric vehicle is to be launched in North America, Europe, China and India. Fisker is not yet revealing in which segment the PEAR project will be located. “We will create a vehicle that crosses social borders while offering a combination of advanced technology, desirable design, innovation and value for money, whilst delivering on our commitment to create the world’s most sustainable vehicles,” Henrik Fisker says.

Young-way Liu, chairman of Foxconn Technology Group, is much more matter-of-fact in the announcement. “The key success elements of electric vehicle development include the electric motor, electric control module and battery. We have two major advantages in this regard, with an exceptional vertically integrated global supply chain and the best supply chain management team in our industry.”

In the summer of 2020, Fisker had still announced its intention to launch four electric vehicle models by 2025. In addition to the Ocean electric SUV, this is to be a sports crossover on the same basis, and an electric sedan is also planned. In the graphic, the silhouette of a pickup was still shown, which Fisker described at the time as a “lifestyle” pickup. It is not known whether this is Project PEAR or whether a completely different car is to be built with Foxconn.

Update 15 May 2021: Fisker’s large-scale electric vehicle project with Apple contract manufacturer Hon Hai aka Foxconn, announced in February, is becoming more concrete. Beginning with a letter of intent between the two companies, Fisker and Foxconn have now signed a framework agreement in which the most important cornerstones of the PEAR (Personal Electric Automotive Revolution) project have been defined.

The plan is to produce the new type of electric vehicle, which will be offered at a base price of 30,000 US dollars before subsidies, from the fourth quarter of 2023 onwards, initially in the USA and later at other locations. The aim is to produce a total of 250,000 vehicles per year. The model, which will carry the Fisker logo, will be sold in North America, Europe, China and India and will be based on a jointly developed lightweight platform called “FP28”.

To support the work on Project PEAR, the two companies have established a joint administrative office in the US and Taiwan to coordinate design, engineering, purchasing and manufacturing.

businesswire.com, businesswire.com (update)