This past week, Fisker announced that its upcoming Ocean electric SUV would be built by none other than Magna — a move that offers Fisker access to Magna’s global supply chain and gives the latest iteration of the Danish-born designer’s eponymous car brand real, instant street cred.
Image courtesy Fisker, Inc.
To his credit, Henrik Fisker absolutely “gets it,” and praises Magna’s involvement in the official release. “We chose to leverage the Magna EV architecture after detailed due diligence on several options, and in consideration of our own product and technology strategy,” he explains. “Further, having Magna take such a committed position in the project and our company demonstrates the depth of this cooperation. Combined with our own Fisker developed IP, the new FM29 platform is projected to deliver class-leading range, interior space with third-row seating and overall vehicle performance. These factors, combined with capital investments, Bill of Materials and manufacturing costs, will enable us to deliver the Ocean to market at a starting MSRP of $37,499 (US).”
Automotive super-supplier Magna builds everything from dashboards to mirrors for clients like GM and Ford, and you probably know all about that. What you may not know is that Magna is a carmaker in its own right, and Magna Steyr — based in Graz, Austria — has been building cars under contract for companies like Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and even Chrysler since the 1970s.
“We are very happy to be able to work with Fisker on such an exciting, sustainable product and to see what additional opportunities this cooperation may bring,” said Swamy Kotagiri, President of Magna. “This is a unique competitive position for us, particularly with new mobility players and OEMs seeking to expand their electrified offerings.”
Magna will be the exclusive builders of the sharp-looking Fisker Ocean in Europe, and states in the press release that, “The vehicle will leverage Magna’s EV architecture combined with the Fisker-Flexible Platform Adaptive Design (FF-PAD) to create a lightweight, aluminum intensive platform for the Fisker Ocean.”
That seems to contradict earlier reports that the Ocean would be built using Volkswagen’s MEB electric skateboard, but since no one else seems to be talking about how bonkers it was (is?) for Fisker to announce the Ocean’s performance specs before it even had a platform, to then stumble into VW’s platform, to now signing on with Magna for the use of their FM29 aluminum electric vehicle platform. The Magna platform itself was designed to be shared amongst other OEMs, allowing Magna to drive costs down as the single supplier for everyone. For its part, Fisker can then do its own engineering on top of the Magna platform to ensure it performs, looks, and feels like a Fisker.
Just keep on driving.
For its part in all this, Magna gets to make a profit on every Fisker Ocean it sells to Fisker, Inc., which will then resell the cars to end users. Oh, and 6% of Fisker’s shares, too.
“Seems fair,” I thought, sarcastically. What did you guys think? Has Henrik pulled a fast one on Magna, and maybe VW, or is the Fisker brand big enough that Magna and VW might actually benefit from getting onboard? Let us know down in the comments.
Source | Images: Magna, via EVObsession; Fisker, Inc.
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