(Reuters) – U.S. startup Fisker said on Monday it would produce 100 limited edition electric sports utility vehicles (SUVs) for the Indian market and expects to begin deliveries in the fourth quarter this year.
The company had said in September it would begin selling its Ocean electric SUVs in India by July 2023, with local production beginning in a few years.
But it now expects to complete the final checks for the SUV, named Fisker Ocean Extreme Vigyan, for India by the end of September, with its pricing aligning with the European market.
Fisker Ocean Extreme is priced at 69,950 euros ($78,588.83), excluding taxes, in Germany. That would equate to around 6.45 million Indian rupees. A Fisker Ocean SUV starts at $37,499 in the United States.
Electric vehicles (EVs) make up just 1% of the 3 million cars sold each year in India, with the government wanting to increase this share to 30% by 2030. For this, the country has introduced several incentives, including tax breaks for consumers.
In India and across all regions outside China, the U.S. and Europe, EV sales are expected to represent 2%-3% of car sales in 2023, a relatively small yet growing share, according to data from International Energy Agency.
Fisker has a secondary office in Hyderabad, India, and has about 100 employees in the country, according to its LinkedIn page.
The California-based company has a contract manufacturing agreement with Magna International, which would produce the Ocean at its Austrian unit and ship it to India. Fisker also looks to produce its next EV, the smaller, five-seater PEAR in India with Foxconn.
($1 = 0.8901 euros)
(1 Indian rupee = 0.0108 euros)
(Reporting by Akshita Toshniwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
