Foxconn, best known as a contract manufacturer for Apple, will build electric vehicles for Fisker while simultaneously entering into a joint-venture with Stellantis.
Fisker will open a US manufacturing plant in 2023 with the Taiwanese company, though a location has yet to be confirmed.
Codenamed Project Pear, the electric Fisker will enter production in the fourth quarter of 2023 and use a new lightweight platform called FP28.
The fruits of Fisker and Foxconn’s labour will be offered in markets like North America, Europe, China and India, while Fisker also intends to build it outside the US.
In all, the start-up is projecting annual volumes of more than 250,000 units across multiple sites.
Fisker is also promising a starting price of less than US$30,000 ($38,515) before incentives.
For context, a Nissan Leaf starts at US$31,620 and is still eligible for the US$7500 federal tax credit.
“Thanks to our MIH Alliance, Foxconn will be able to work with suppliers from across the world for Project PEAR,” said Foxconn Technology Group chairman Young-way Liu.
“We have world-class supply chains in place to support Project PEAR – in particular, securing the reliable delivery of chipsets and semiconductors.”
MIH is the name for Foxconn’s new flexible electric vehicle platform, revealed late in 2020.
According to Foxconn, the architecture can have a wheelbase between 2750mm and 3100 mm, and supports a variety of track and ride heights, making it suitable for sedans, hatches, crossovers, and people movers.
Battery packs with 93kWh, 100kWh and 116kWh can be installed. A variety of electric motors can be employed at both ends, with the initial offering consisting of 95kW, 150kW and 200kW front motors, and 150kW, 200kW, 240kW and 340kW units for the rear axle.
Likening the Tesla range to the “iPhone of EV”, the company wants its EV platform to be the “Android of EV”, and will execute this by making the architecture’s core systems “open” to automakers to use and modify.
By making many of an EV’s core components available to use off the shelf, Foxconn is hoping to dramatically reduce the costs of developing and designing new electric cars.
The Foxconn platform supports over-the-air software updates, vehicle-to-anything communication, 5G mobile internet connectivity, and driver assistance, as well as self-driving car technology.
The Ocean electric SUV will still beat the Pear to market, with production slated for the fourth quarter of 2022.
Fisker has confirmed it’ll build the Ocean in Europe and will reveal a ‘production intent prototype’ at the 2021 Los Angeles motor show.
We don’t yet know if comparing the Ocean and Pear is like apples and oranges as Fisker has revealed only a single, highly-stylised teaser that doesn’t give us a good look at what the car will look like.
Odds are it’ll be a small crossover SUV. PEAR, by the way, stands for Personal Electric Automotive Revolution.
In addition to announcing its tie-up with Fisker, Foxconn has also announced it’s signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding for a 50-50 joint-venture with Stellantis called Mobile Drive.
The Netherlands-based joint venture will operate as an automotive supplier, bidding to supply software and hardware for Stellantis.
The companies say Mobile Drive will “deliver a new frontier of in-cabin information and entertainment capabilities”.
