Henrik Fisker announced the overhaul package called "Force E," for Force Electric. It's one of the four promised packages available when the Ocean goes on sale at the end of next year, designed to serve fleets that would need "an extreme off-road package for theFisker Ocean." Reserved for the all-wheel drive model, the equipment list assembles a brush guard and tow hooks, a touch of extra lighting in the front fascia and on the roof rack, a tool mount on the tailgate, a plug to run external power, all resting on a lifted, upgraded suspension and, in the rendering at least, truly meaty tires on beadlock wheels. Inside come "certain upgrades with more rugged and durable materials." All Force E crossovers automatically get the California mode option that opens the sunroof and all windows at the press of a button. The Force E kit starts off on the 300-horsepower Ocean, but Fisker says a high-performance model will follow.

The company touts having received more than 22,000 expressions of interest without clarifying if that applies to hand-raisers or to depositors

Electric car maker Fisker will go public through a merger with a "blank check company" backed by private equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc at a valuation of $2.9 billion, the companies said on Monday.

Reuters reported last week that the special purpose acquisition company (****), known as Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp, was leading a bidding war among blank-check companies for Fisker.
Spartan's shares rose 19.4% in premarket trade.The deal will provide Fisker with $1 billion in gross proceeds, including $500 million of funds from existing and new investors such as AllianceBernstein and BlackRock Inc.

The proceeds will be used to bring the company's first product, the Fisker Ocean, to production in late-2022.

Henrik Fisker, a one-time Aston-Martin designer, launched the eponymous Los Angeles-based company in 2016, and plans to begin selling the Fisker Ocean luxury electric SUV at a starting price of $37,500.

"Prototype vehicles are expected to start durability testing by the end of this year," Fisker said in a statement.

His previous automotive venture, Fisker Automotive, filed for bankruptcy in 2013 after burning through $1.4 billion in private investments and taxpayer-funded loans.

A **** uses proceeds from its IPO, together with borrowed funds, to acquire a company, typically within two years.

***** have been behind some of the most high-profile public listings of the last 12 months, including peer Nikola Corp, which went public last month, as investors place bets on which startup will be the next Tesla Inc.

Nikola shares are up more than 60% since their debut.

Henrik Fisker took his beating, stayed in the ring, and appears to be getting on top of the fight to be an electric vehicle automaker. At the beginning of the week, Fisker Inc. announced a merger with special purpose acquisition company (****) Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp, backed by private equity firm Apollo Global Management. The merger would value Fisker at $2.9 billion in preparation for a listing on the New York Stock Exchange. This is the same maneuver Nikola Motors recently employed in order to go public. Spartan filed a trove of documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission in advance of the filing, one of them an investor presentation that explained some backstory and hoped-for production path for Fisker's Ocean electric crossover. One key piece of info is that Fisker is in talks with Volkswagen about using VW's MEB modular electric platform and ancillary components for the Ocean. The agreement would include battery packs as well. One slide asserted that "anticipated access to Volkswagen’s industry-leading EV component quality, pricing, and supply chain ... accelerates time to market and dramatically reduces vehicle development costs."

Furthermore, this attempt at deeper collaboration with VW is part of a two-year growing partnership. The Verge went through the presentation, noting that Fisker and VW entered a memorandum of understanding in 2017, upgrading that to a "collaboration agreement" in 2018. Audi subsidiary Italdesign built the Ocean crossover Fisker debuted at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the prototype described as a "near-series prototype" and sitting an MEB platform. This month, the two companies could sign a "cornerstone agreement" to formalize "costs, production capacity, and a timeline." If that happens, a contract covering supply and manufacturing would be consummated before the end of 2020. The timeline in the presentation notes earnest prototype testing next year, with production planned for late 2022. Separately, however, Fisker has said, "Prototype vehicles are expected to start durability testing by the end of this year, and we continue to make significant progress on the development of our sales and service proposition."

If the IPO clears all hurdles, Fisker Inc. could receive $1 billion to put toward Ocean development and production. Meanwhile, a recent funding round secured $50 million from Moore Strategic Ventures. In personnel moves, Fisker recently hired Burkahrd Huhnke to fill the role of chief technology officer, Huhnke formerly involved in EV development at Volkswagen of America. And Fisker told Reuters that his company is also in talks with Magna.

These revelations clear up a lot of mystery about how Fisker planned to stay in business pricing the Ocean, his sole product, at $37,499. He told Automotive News, "We don't need to make our own electric air conditioning, steering rack, even the platform itself," and with the experience of one burned, he told Fortune, “It’s really not smart for any EV startup to try and make their own factory.”

As others have noted, dressing up the MEB platform and internals with an Ocean bodyshell would make Fisker an independent version of VW Group brands like Seat and Skoda that are also developing MEB-based offerings. Fisker's belief is, "Emotional design is going to be in the foreground of vehicle purchasing in the future. We’re going to be the leader in that, both inside and outside [vehicles] and also the entire user interface on the screens in the interior and how you communicate."

Of course, Ford has the same thing in mind, the U.S. automaker having entered a partnership with VW to build commercial vehicles on the MEB chassis. The reward for VW, beyond earnings from MEB sales to third parties, is showcasing how much differentiation can be achieved on the platform, which could entice more partnerships or MEB sales.

Responding to the Fisker story in The Verge, a spokesperson at the German car company wrote, "Volkswagen is still open to support small series projects that demonstrate the variety of conceivable concepts based on the MEB platform through their emotional appearance. ... However, a final decision has not yet been made about a possible cooperation with Fisker to implement a series project."

Fisker has officially gone public, trading on the New York Stock Exchange under "FSR" as of Friday, the company announced this week. It was taken public as part of a merger/acquisition by Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp.

"All the external pieces are now in place to execute our unique, asset-light business strategy, with today’s funding and the strategic cooperation announced with Magna on Oct. 15," said Fisker Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Henrik Fisker, in the company's announcement. "We can now fully turn our attention to developing and launching the revolutionary, all-electric Fisker Ocean into the heart of the midsize SUV market, expected to commence in Q4 2022. We appreciate the confidence from all our shareholders and intend to deliver on our stated goals."
ADVERTISEMENTFisker announced last week that auto supplier Magna will provide the vehicle platform and build the electric carmaker's Ocean SUV. As part of the deal, Magna will receive warrants to purchase a stake of up to 6% in Fisker, giving the EV maker an overall valuation of about $3 billion, Fisker Chief Executive Henrik Fisker told Reuters.

"As a result of the completion of the transaction, Fisker expects to have in excess of $1.0 billion (net of transaction fees and expenses) of cash on the balance sheet and no funded debt. This amount is expected to fully fund Fisker operations and the development of the Fisker Ocean program through the planned start of production in Q4 2022."

Fisker, which is merging with Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp, said it had finalized a deal with Canada's Magna to build the Ocean in Europe, marking the Canadian supplier's first entry into contract manufacturing for an EV startup. While Magna has built vehicles for traditional automakers for years, analysts and investors have speculated it could eventually build for technology companies like Apple.

Fisker stock was up more than 10% in its first day of trading (as of publication time).