Fisker Ocean electric SUV set to arrive in late 2022
Startup automaker Fisker is poised to become a public company in a deal that it says will enable the company to begin production on its first electric vehicle in late 2022.
Fisker announced Monday that it had agreed to a $2.9 billion deal to merge with private equity firm Apollo Global Management’s Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp.
Spartan Energy is known as a special purpose acquisition company, which is an entity with no operations that is set up to make deals enabling private companies to go public.
With the deal, which is expected to deliver more than $1 billion in proceeds for Fisker, the startup says it will have enough cash “to fully fund the development of the all-electric Fisker Ocean through (the) start of production.”
Fisker’s namesake, renowned automotive designer Henrik Fisker, has been pursuing electric vehicles for more than a decade.
His first company named Fisker made a sleek ultra-luxury electric car called the Fisker Karma but ended up stopping production and selling assets to a Chinese company after battery supplier A123 Systems filed for bankruptcy in 2012.
Henrik Fisker later restarted a new company called Fisker, having retained branding rights, and reassembled an engineering and design team. His new vehicle, the Fisker Ocean SUV, will have a vegan interior, a solar roof and driving range of 250 to 300 miles, the company said at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.
It’s the crown jewel of Fisker’s “mission to commercialize the world’s most emotional and sustainable vehicles, while upholding our vision of a clean future for all,” he said in a statement.
At CES, Fisker said the Ocean would start at $37,499 and that the company would accept reservations for $250.
Here’s how the company describes the vehicle: “The Fisker Ocean is a fully electric SUV with premium styling and features and has been designed to be the world’s most sustainable vehicle, including extensive use of environmentally friendly and recycled materials. The Fisker Ocean will be available to consumers through an innovative leasing package, optimized for driver convenience and accessibility.”