So Many Fisker Ocean in New York, But Why?

This weekend I spent in New York City, always a good place to experience culture, restaurants and lots of crazy stuff. But what struck me was the Fisker Ocean density. Remember: Henrik Fisker’s second attempt after the Karma was the Ocean, which he had proudly presented at CES just a few years ago. Fast forward to 2025 and we know that Fisker went bankrupt with it in 2024. Almost 4,000 vehicles were built by Magna in Graz, and now 3,000 of them are on the road in New York. Why is that?

Quite simply, American Lease, a fleet operator, saw a business opportunity in Fisker’s bankruptcy. The company bought 3,000 Fisker Ocean cars from the bankruptcy estate for a unit price of 13,000 dollars at a total cost of around 42.5 million dollars. AL now rents these vehicles to Uber and Lyft drivers at a monthly rate of 399 dollars. They are operated with a cab license, which can also be seen from the license plate. The T at the beginning indicates the “Taxi” license.

To ensure that the vehicles can also be serviced, American Lease has set up a service center in the Bronx where the vehicles are repaired. Although AL also bought the spare parts from Fisker, the company also had to set up its own spare parts production facility.

Anyone who knows the cabs in NYC knows how bad they are. Old vehicles, dirty, lots of parts that no longer work. In the rides with about 10 cabs in New York this past weekend, we had it all. Everything squeaking, windows that wouldn’t close, seat belts that were broken, air conditioning that didn’t work.

The Fisker Ocean, on the other hand, has a much better build quality, with original list prices ranging from 41,00 to 62,000 dollars. Even though the faulty software was the main criticism in the car tests at the time, passengers hardly cared. And with a sell-out price of 13,000 dollars, the vehicle is far below the usual prices for cabs. It’s a bargain for American Lease and the drivers, and a much more comfortable ride for the passengers.

This article was also published in German.