A decade ago, respected automobile designer Henrik Fisker was coming off the bankruptcy of his first car company when he contemplated his comeback. Instead of a luxury hybrid sedan, what he envisioned was an all-electric SUV that would appeal to the masses with its lower price and California beach-inspired design. The Danish native put the car on the road last year, when his new Manhattan Beach company, Fisker Inc., released the Ocean.
Magna co-developed the Ocean's platform, including the chassis and underlying technologies, but ran into manufacturing challenges last year. Fisker had to cut its production estimates several times, and when the cars were released last year they had software bugs.