Bad news for Fisker customers who currently hold a reservation for the Ocean EV – the automaker announced today that it will require an extra US$5,000 non-refundable deposit for a “pre-order”, even though reservation holders have already made a deposit for the Ocean electric SUV.
The new requirement is being touted as a “Pre-Order” program for the Ocean. For years, the automaker has asked customers to make a US$250 deposit in exchange for their reservation (similar to other EV manufacturers like Tesla), however, this will now transition to a US$5,000 non-refundable deposit.
“Only 5,000 Launch Edition Fisker Ocean Ones will be made,” shared the company in an email to customers. “Fisker is inviting select groups of reservation holders to commit to securing their Fisker Ocean One by making a [US]$5,000 non-refundable pre-order deposit.”
The email went on to explain that the automaker only plans to deliver those pre-orders by September 2023. “Select Fisker Ocean One to confirm your choice of a Launch Edition Fisker Ocean One. Production starts in November 2022. Delivery timing will be dependent upon your pre-order date and delivery location. We expect all deliveries of the Fisker Ocean One to occur by end of September 2023. At this time, Fisker is only confirming pre-orders for the Launch Edition Fisker Ocean One.”
At this time, Fisker has not confirmed whether or not it plans to honour its original starting price of US$37,500 – in previous announcements, the brand has indicated that it will likely increase the price after the 2023 model year. Moving forward, the automaker reportedly plans to “focus on the more expensive versions of its electric SUV” (starting at US$68,000), for the first year of production.
According to recent reports, Fisker is losing more than US$120 million per quarter.