Fisker's Ocean SUV Fails To Impress YouTuber Marques Brownlee: 'Not Acceptably Usable'

Popular tech YouTuber and automotive enthusiast Marques Brownlee on Saturday termed Fisker Inc‘s FSR Ocean SUV the worst car he has ever reviewed.

What Happened: “Do not buy this version of the Fisker Ocean,” Brownlee said in the review.

“There were a lot of red flags actually going into this,” Brownlee said. The YouTuber got the vehicle from a Mitsubishi dealership in New Jersey because Fisker couldn’t arrange one for his review. On realizing that the reviewer has got one, Fisker didn’t apparently want Brownlee to review the vehicle but wait for a “really big software update.”

However, the YouTuber noted that the vehicle’s fundamentals are sound, with ample vehicle space, sound range, and good looks. However, the car experiences several frequent errors, including those about the ADAS system, the camera system, etc. The reviewer even noted trouble pairing his phone to the vehicle via Bluetooth.

The vehicle has no brake hold, no glove box on the passenger side, and does not actively respond with the key fob. Though the vehicle’s roof has solar panels aimed at storing energy, the software gives no details on how much energy it is storing or adding to the range of the car, Brownlee noted. Further, though the vehicle offers three drive modes, he said they do not change much.

“It’s (issues) not going to show up in a day. You live with this car and it slowly rears its ugly head,” Brownlee said. The vehicle reviewed by the YouTuber was a launch edition of the Ocean SUV called the Ocean One priced at $68,999. The company intends to make only 5000 units of the launch edition vehicles around the globe.

While an upcoming software update is expected to fix a few of these concerns, Brownlee said, “I think it’s going to take time for this car to be acceptably usable given how many issues I have had with it but I am rooting for it only because competition is good and the fundamentals are solid.”

“I think the theme here is it’s just a young company that doesn’t really know exactly what they’re doing with a lot of these choices yet or hasn’t considered all of the things necessary to make a great car,” Brownlee added.

A Fisker spokesperson told Benzinga that the company continues to introduce features aimed at improving both performance and comfort.

“As adoption grows and the number of drivers and miles driven increases, our innovations are tested under a wider range of conditions that reveal ways we can improve. Almost all the issues that have been identified were confined to early-build vehicles, and we are working with early adopters to address issues they might have had,” they said.

Fisker’s Other Challenges: The Fisker Ocean SUV comes in the same highly competitive electric SUV category as the Tesla Model Y, the Mustang Mach-E, the Ioniq 5, and the EV6.

The Fisker Ocean starts at $38,999 for the lower-end Sport trim, lower than the Model Y rear-wheel drive, which presently starts at $42,990. The higher-end Extreme trim of the Ocean SUV is priced at $61,499.

U.S. auto safety regulator National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Friday opened an investigation into 4000 model year 2023 Ocean SUVs after its office of defects investigation received four complaints pertaining to the vehicle. The complaints alleged unintended vehicle movement owing to the car not shifting into the park or the intended gear. One of the four complaints even alleged an injury.

In 2023, Fisker delivered only approximately 4,700 Ocean vehicles despite producing over 10,000.

Price Action: Fisker shares closed down 3.45% at 0.73 on Friday, according to data from Benzinga Pro. The stock fell nearly 89% over the past year.

Photo by betto rodrigues on Shutterstock

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