Update: Fisker is going high-end too, and has started teasing the Fisker Ronin — a convertible sports car with over 600 miles of range
Fisker is jumping both feet first into the affordable electric vehicle market with Project PEAR. The car that spawned from this move, the Fisker Pear EV, is now available to be reserved.
We don’t know a whole lot about the car right now, other than the fact it has a five-seat configuration. But it's being called an "urban EV" which suggests it’ll be a more compact model than the upcoming Fisker Ocean.
All that really matters is the price, because it's low. Really low. Fisker says the car will start at $29,900 which is pretty impressive. It's even lower than the cost of the original $35,000 Tesla Model 3 — though that model has since been discontinued and the starting price has risen quite a bit.
The Fisker Pear also promises to be around the same price as the electric Mini SE, and is just $2,500 more than the cheapest 2022 Nissan Leaf.
There is one downside, though. The Fisker Pear isn't going to be sitting on your driveway this year. Or even next year. Deliveries are supposed to start in 2024 which feels quite a long way away.
There are concerns to go with that downside, too. As Engadget has rightly pointed out, Fisker's only just coming back from the dead after a merger with Spartan Energy Acquisition and production on the Ocean, its first car, won’t begin until later this year.
Then there's the question of what the EV market will look like by the time the Pear rolls off the production line. There are already electric cars available at this price point right now. Not many, but that could well change in the next two years as competition between automakers ramps up.
But whether increased competition would make the Fisker Pear a less attractive prospect has yet to be seen. Still, the more affordable EVs there are on the market the better. We can’t all go driving around in a $90,000+ Tesla Model S, after all.
Then there's the manufacturing itself. Fisker has partnered with Foxconn, a company best known for building iPhones. The Pear will be produced in Ohio with a minimum initial production of 250,000 units per year.
What the fit, finish, and overall quality of the Pear will be like is a mystery, as are range and performance specs.
At the very least Fisker is only asking for a $250 reservation fee, which isn’t exactly Tesla Roadster money. Still, pinning your hopes on an unproven car company that's building an EV with a new carmaker won't be for everyone.
