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Fisker finalizes deal with Foxconn to make EVs in U.S. starting in 2023
CGTN
A Foxconn office building in Shanghai, China, May 5, 2021. /CFP

A Foxconn office building in Shanghai, China, May 5, 2021. /CFP

Electric car maker Fisker has finalized its vehicle-assembly deal with Foxconn Technology, including plans to open a U.S. plant in 2023, the companies said on Thursday.

The new plant's location has not been identified, but Fisker Chief Executive Henrik Fisker said four states are under consideration, including Foxconn's plant site in Wisconsin. Foxconn Chairman Liu Young-way previously said electric vehicles (EVs) have a "promising future" in Wisconsin but did not elaborate.

The annual capacity for the U.S. plant will be at least 150,000 vehicles to start, Fisker said.

"When you look back at recent history and new technology products, they have been launched in the U.S. first," Fisker said in an interview. "That's why we want to launch here." He expects the U.S. market initially to be the biggest for the vehicle.

Fisker also cited access to Foxconn's supply chain, including semiconductor chips, as an advantage of the partnership.

Fisker is one of a handful of EV startups that have gone public through a reverse merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) at a time when U.S. President Joe Biden has called for $174 billion in new spending to boost EVs and charging.

Under the Fisker deal, the companies will jointly invest in "Project PEAR" (Personal Electric Automotive Revolution) and share in any profit. The companies reaffirmed Foxconn will eventually build more than 250,000 vehicles a year for Fisker across multiple sites, with initial production beginning at its U.S. plant in late 2023 which it announced in February.

Foxconn has ramped up its interest in EVs over the past year or so, including the formation of a joint venture for contract manufacturing with Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.

Foxconn aims to provide components or services to 10 percent of the world's EVs by 2025 to 2027, posing a threat to established automakers by allowing technology companies a shortcut to competing in the vehicle market.

Last month, the tech company drastically scaled back a plan for a $10 billion factory in Wisconsin that was originally announced in 2017 and was supposed to build cutting-edge flat-panel display screens. 

Source(s): Reuters

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