UPDATE: Fisker teases new electric SUV!
The Fisker EMotion is very good looking. Let’s get that out of the way up front. Henrik Fisker—the founder of this, the second carmaker to bear his name—is a terrific designer and the guy who needs to win over investors and skeptical journalists like me.
CES is a great place to go see the future of technology, but after years of attending, I know that it’s also a great place to see a bunch of stuff that will never make it to consumers. The industry calls it vaporware. It’s not yet clear whether the EMotion will be a real car or another CES debut that disappears into the ether within a year or two. Fisker, at least outwardly, has no doubts.
High aspirations, low volume
The car, Fisker says, will begin deliveries in two years. "We have a very clear development and production plan, a low-volume vehicle is less complicated than a high complicated vehicle," says Fisker, who plans to build around two thousand EMotions. "This vehicle will be built in the US. This vehicle in comparison to the Fisker Karma is a much lower investment because it’s lower volume tooling with carbon fiber."
They have signed major suppliers like Pirelli (tires) and LG Chem (batteries), and Fisker points to his experience launching the Fisker Karma—a hybrid car that sold a bit more than 2,000 units before the company went under—as proof that he can bring this car to market.
Also: Get your first look at the new and redesigned cars of 2019
"We have a lot of very happy Fisker customers," he says. But he recognizes that having a history (especially a failed one) isn’t enough and his self-awareness, prompted by a question from me, is refreshing. "You can’t do much more than simply delivering a great product. We won’t necessarily have the trust of everybody over the next two years and there’s nothing I can do about that other than telling the story and telling people where we are."
There are lots of specs about the car—400 miles of all-electric range, autonomous features, carbon fiber everything, and those crazy butterfly doors—but none of that matters right now. This is a design concept built to attract attention, and boy is it working. The press coverage of the new Fisker has been fawning, with the hype machine in overdrive.
Two-year timetable
I’m not going to pass judgement on Henrik Fisker and the EMotion just yet. He says the car will come out in two years and that we’ll see progress from the company between now and then, including new announcements over the next few months. OK, we’ll see. For now, interested buyers can put down a $2,000 refundable deposit on Fisker’s website.
"But at the end of the day we have to prove it with a product," says Fisker. "I can talk all day long, unfortunately two years is a long time, but this is what it is going to take and we’re just going to have to bury our heads in the sand and make a great product."
