For £17k you can buy a 480hp electric SUV...
...it just so happens to be a 2024 Fisker Ocean. Who's feeling courageous?
To say it’s not a good time to be selling expensive, luxurious, powerful electric cars would be putting it mildly. Ailing demand has undermined confidence, both for the consumer and the manufacturer. Plans are being delayed. Engines are being plotted for EV platforms. Retirements have been postponed. It's carnage. Still, most big carmakers will not find themselves suffering the fate of Fisker. Not so long ago it seemed to have launched the ideal product - the Ocean being a handsome family SUV with good range - and yet the customer did not concur. By the time that bankruptcy was filed for last year, more than 10,000 had been built, but fewer than half had been delivered.
Fisker had fallen victim to dwindling demand and supplier issues, and obviously lacked a broader line-up to fall back on. This, ultimately, seems like a shame, because the Ocean had shown a good amount of promise. Those who were able to review the car over here praised the Fisker for its design, fun features, space and decent driving dynamics; it was close to being really good, a couple of updates away from being a true contender in its class. Only they never came, of course, because the company was already holed beneath the waterline.
But some cars had been delivered already. And boy, are they cheap now. Unsurprisingly, with the writing on the wall, Fisker slashed prices pretty drastically, so the range started at £30k and stopped by £45,000, where previously it had extended to almost £60,000. It was reasonable value for an Mercedes EQC-sized car beforehand; right at the end, it was an absolute bargain.
And now, with the brand up in smoke and just the thought of Fisker Ocean ownership requiring a certain amount of courage, the prices are borderline unbelievable. This is a 2024 car with 437 miles on it, so essentially brand new. It’s the front-wheel drive Touring Sport with a 73kWh battery and a claimed 288-mile range. It will have launched at £36,900 before options, which was dropped to £30,900 when things looked really bad. It’s now for sale at a car supermarket for £16,980. The only other EVs comparable in price and mileage are Corsas and the like. It’s crazy.
The caveats are fairly significant, mind you. Even the advert makes it abundantly clear: ‘Please be advised that FISKER (GB) Ltd are in liquidation, this vehicle is sold without a warranty and there is no manufacturer support’ is the opening line. And while there is a Fisker Owners Association that is working on access to parts and services, that’s a US-based organisation; it obviously won’t be as effective as having proper manufacturer backing. For a car so dependent on its software, that’s probably the biggest risk. Online guides from the US basically demand that any used buyer ensure their prospective Ocean has the latest possible software, a fresh 12-volt battery (the scourge of so many new cars), a spare key and a new water pump. And they’re just the known issues.
So it’s a leap in the deep end, for sure. From a brief bit of searching it seems companies in the UK will insure an Ocean for acceptable money, so that’s handy, but just thinking about the wait for spare parts is scary. Maybe an EV specialist will establish themselves as an Ocean expert over here in time. Even then, ownership is surely going to be a story of ups and downs, to put it mildly. But what a story it might be to tell…
However it’s a bit like a Tesla inside. Ie looks a bit cheap and everything is via the screen. Which sadly makes it worthless if the manufacturer has left the building. When they stop paying the AWS hosting bill, what happens to your four wheeled appliance? It would have to drop to £4000 before I would take a risk on it remaining crippled, but basically operational for a long enough period.
Presumably if it still had the ability to move and charge, and the heating and phone paring worked, you could put up with no sat nav, no voice recognition, etc etc. on an ev the basic servicing should be possible without dealer support.
The single biggest killer was "you could give me this car, and I wouldn't want to drive it". Oof.
Regardless of what the old (and decidedly irrelevant opinion of) people of PH may think, YouTubers influence is far more important and carries way more weight with the car-buying public than the likes of legacy media journalists like Clarkson, Harris, Metcalfe, Catchpole etc these days, particularly when it comes to tech-heavy cars like this. To put it in perspective, over 20 million people subscribe to MKBHD's YouTube channels so it's no surprise the BBC partnered with him to contribute commentary and discussion on electric vehicles for Top Gear...
This is probably one of the best examples of how a single influencer review can really sway public opinion and impact a brand's financial health.
Too many of these two ton plus EVs have got the same horsepower as a 90's 911 Turbo yet get fitted with "Eco" tyres by the factory in an attempt to slightly boost the range.
Just the idea of a 2+ ton car having 911 Turbo power and Eco tyres do NOT make a good mix, as my friend in his Volvo EX30 has been finding out over the past month of very cold mornings on his commute into work.
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