Fisker Strikes Deal with Magna to Build Electric Ocean SUV

From Autoweek

• Fisker Ocean SUV will be built by Magna Steyr in Europe

• Magna's EV tech will be incorporated into electric SUV

• Magna recently showcased its EV tech with Sony concept car

Henrik Fisker's electric startup made some waves (while also prompting a few eye-rolls) a little under a year ago when it unveiled the Ocean SUV, promising a 300-mile range and a modest price. The company, Fisker's second automaker on paper, took the wraps off the Ocean at last year's CES in Las Vegas, showing a running prototype with a $37,499 starting price, a vegan interior and a solar roof. The SUV also promised a "California Mode" that rolls down all the nine windows, including the ones between the C and D pillars -- a rarity in automotive architecture.

For what it's worth the SUV did seem real, in the sense that it wasn't a static plastic model on a show stand. Fisker showed off a running prototype with its own platform looking production ready. Seemingly everything appeared ready, except for one thing: the factory to produce it.

Since these things require a footprint and hundreds of suppliers, Fisker was not going to build the Ocean in a basement, especially with a $37,499 starting price. In fact, the Ocean isn't meant to be a low volume, Bristol-style effort at all -- Fisker imagines mass manufacture.

The question of what company is going to build the SUV was answered a few days ago: Austria's supplier giant Magna Steyr will produce the Ocean in Europe, initially on an exclusive basis.