A deal between Fisker and Foxconn for contract manufacturing of Fisker’s planned Pear EV has not been finalized, according to a recent TechCrunch report.
“In the Foxconn deal specifically, we don’t yet have a final conclusion to this deal,” Fisker founder and CEO Henrik Fisker said in an interview with TechCrunch on the sideline of an event in Huntington Beach, California, presenting the company’s future product plan.
Fisker and Foxconn in 2021 signed a memorandum of understanding to produce the sub-$30,000 Pear—an acronym for Personal Electric Automotive Revolution—in the U.S., with targeted annual production volumes of 250,000 units. Wisconsin was initially discussed as a production site, but in May 2022, Fisker announced the Pear would be built at Foxconn’s former General Motors factory in Lordstown, Ohio.
Fisker PEAR revealed
Foxconn bought the Ohio factory from Lordstown Motors in 2022, with initial plans to manufacture the Lordstown Endurance electric pickup truck under contract. Only a small number of trucks were built before Lordstown filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. The company is now suing Foxconn, alleging breach of contract by Foxconn, the Taiwanese company best known as a manufacturer of Apple iPhones.
In addition to Fisker and Lordstown, Foxconn has discussed plans to build other vehicles at the 6.2-million-square-foot Ohio factory, including a self-driving electric tractor and a small hatchback for startup IndiEV.
Ohio assembly will be an important part of the Fisker Pear’s appeal. Fisker has said the EV will start at $29,900 but at the recent California event he noted after federal incentives it will cost $22,400. That suggests the brand is counting not only on U.S. assembly but also American battery sourcing. That price will likely put the Fisker Pear in competition with the reconstituted Chevy Bolt EV.
Fisker PEAR Houdini trunk
At the same event, Fisker also showed the Alaska electric pickup truck, due to start production in 2025. The company quoted a base price of $45,400, or $37,900 with incentives, again indicating U.S. assembly. Fisker also showed the $385,000 Ronin, which the company said will target 600 miles of range.
The only Fisker model to go into production so far is the Ocean crossover, which is manufactured at Magna’s facility in Graz, Austria. Fisker and Magna kept to their timeline, starting production in November 2022, but deliveries have been slow. An off-road version labelled Force E is now due in 2024.