Fisker plans to share EV platforms with other automakers, as well as explore selling emissions credits, the company revealed this week in its third-quarter financial results update.

“Fisker has begun preliminary discussions with large global OEMs and businesses to explore sharing both Ocean and Pear platforms, joint U.S. manufacturing, and future sales of emissions credits,” read the last bullet point in a press release summarizing Fisker’s Q3 results.

Full-line automakers—especially those that still make many large, thirsty trucks—buy emissions credits to make up for shortfalls in fleet average fuel economy. EV-specific manufacturers end up with a surplus of credits by solely manufacturing vehicles with zero “tailpipe” emissions, and can therefore sell the credits to automakers who want to avoid penalties.

Tesla has shown that selling these credits can be a lucrative business, for now. Tesla’s biggest customer, Stellantis’s predecessor FCA, announced last year that it wouldn’t need Tesla emissions credits in that brand’s switch to plug-in hybrids and EVs. 

While it would make sense for Fisker to follow Tesla’s example and sell emissions credits, licensing platforms for the Ocean SUV and Pear is unexpected. The Ocean is scheduled to start customer deliveries in 2023, followed by the Pear. 

Fisker has from the start followed an “asset light” model, meaning it hasn’t developed its platforms entirely in house. So it’s a test of the value Fisker holds in these vehicles for it to be shopping them around.

The Ocean is built with significant contributions from Magna, and will be built at that company’s Austrian factory. In the release, Fisker quoted what appears to be an updated production goal of 42,400 Oceans for 2023—the first full year of planned production. That breaks down to an estimate of more than 300 models in Q1, more than 8,000 models in Q2, more than 15,000 models in Q3, and the remainder in Q4, according to the company.

Teaser for Fisker Project PEAR due in 2024

Fisker also said it had reached more than 62,000 reservations for the Ocean as of October 31, 2022. The company also claimed a “double-digit increase in premium trim configurations in recent months,” although that’s likely due to Fisker closing reservations for the lower-level Sport and Ultra models. The Fisker Ocean One launch edition sold out earlier this year.

In August, Fisker pushed to solidify initial sales of the Ocean ahead of the Inflation Reduction Act and its drastic cuts in the number of qualifying EVs.

The Pear is scheduled to start production in 2024 at the Foxconn factory in Lordstown, Ohio that was formerly owned by General Motors. As of yet Fisker hasn’t revealed how much of the vehicle depends on Foxconn’s EV platform. Fisker is targeting a $29,900 base price, and started taking reservations for the Pear before revealing any major details about the model. Fisker now says a drivable prototype will be ready later this month.