The man who designed the old Aston Martin Vantage and BMW Z8 is going to build a fully electric SUV. This is a bit of it.
It’s not yet been named, but it will be the first of three electric vehicles penned by Henrik Fisker. This one posits itself as the “affordable, mass market vehicle”. Wonder where we’ve heard that one before? Oh right, TESLA.
So, now we’ve had the full debrief on the Model Y comes Fisker’s not-so-friendly fire. This unnamed SUV will be priced under $40,000 – just like the Y – and will offer an 80kWh+ lithium-ion battery powering a pair of electric motors (one up front, one at the back), for all-wheel-drive and a projected range of 483 kilometres.
There’s no word on power, nor performance, but one suspects it won’t be very slow. Nor ugly, because Fisker doesn’t do ugly. Indeed, he tells us his e-SUV “features captivating design touches that have been traditionally reserved for supercars in the past”. Difficult to see from the pictures we’ve got thus far, but his earlier electric saloon – the eMotion – wasn’t half bad.
We’re told the car will feature a centrally-mounted radar behind a glass grille, aero accoutrements, “an extended open-air atmosphere” (a massive sunroof?), 22in wheels, high quality interior materials, a large head-up display and an “intuitive user interface”.
It’ll be fully shown before the year is out, built somewhere in the US, and ready for sale in 2021. Fisker has also appointed a former Volkswagen and Toyota production chief as its senior advisor of manufacturing (a man named Don Jackson).
Once this ‘affordable’ EV is up and running, we’ll see the eMotion, which looks like it is going to benefit from a next-gen solid-state battery and over 805 kilometre of range. That’ll be the low volume, high-performance super-saloon.
Fisker’s gambit is that while others have built “beautiful, high-performance electric cars with high price tags, the real race is about who can deliver a truly high-volume, affordable yet desirable EV”.
“The future success of EVs relies on creating an emotional connection with the consumer,” Fisker explains. Are you, um, connected?
