Fisker is resurrecting a long-dead body style for its upcoming electric grand tourer.
Company founder and CEO Henrik Fisker has released another image of the Project Ronin on Instagram, confirming it’s a four-door convertible.
He also confirmed it’ll feature a tri-motor all-wheel drive powertrain, with a targeted electric range of 600 miles (965km).
Fisker promises a 0-60mph (0-96km/h) time “close to 2 seconds, but not SM [sic] sacrificing range”.
Last week, the company had announced it was targeting the highest range of any production electric vehicle. Currently, the Lucid Air offers up to 837km of range.
It promises to carry four adults and their luggage, with “unique doors” for better accessibility as well as a luxurious, sustainable “vegan” interior that sets a new design direction for the brand.
Fisker says it’ll use the most advanced, lightweight materials, along with active aerodynamics, and an “innovative battery design” with the pack integrated into the structure of the vehicle.
Development of the concept began last year, and Fisker says it expects to reveal it in August 2023 with production starting in the second half of 2024.
The latest teaser images reveal a sleek 2+2 with a dramatically bulging bonnet and wheel arches, an aggressive front bumper, and intricate LED lighting elements.
An earlier teaser released in January shows the rear of the Project Ronin undergoing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) testing, revealing its squared-off, purposeful rear.
It promises to “redefine the luxury sports car segment, with a new concept that currently does not exist”.
Indeed, the four-door convertible is essentially extinct.
Lincoln Continental
Volkswagen Type 181
The most famous four-door convertible was arguably the 1961-67 Lincoln Continental, although it was always a niche seller and achieved notoriety largely for being the vehicle in which US President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in.
On the other end of the luxury spectrum, Volkswagen produced the Type 181/182 – known in the US as, no joke, the Thing – from 1968 to 1983.
Since then, there have been no production four-door convertibles unless you count landaulets like the Maybach 62 or off-roaders like the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited and Ford Bronco.
Mercedes-Benz Ocean Drive
Cadillac Ciel
The body style has only existed in concept vehicles, including the handsome 2007 Mercedes-Benz Ocean Drive and the stately 2011 Cadillac Ciel. Sadly, neither reached production.
Henrik Fisker is well acquainted with sports cars and supercars as he was a designer for both BMW and Aston Martin. He’s best known for designing the Aston Martin DB9 and V8 Vantage, as well as the BMW Z8.
The first vehicle from his latest car company, Fisker Inc, is a practical SUV, unlike the first (and only) car from the defunct Fisker Automotive.
That model was the Karma, a stunning 2+2 range-extender hybrid. It’s still in production, albeit under a Chinese-owned brand that purchased the tooling, as the Karma Revero.
Fisker Karma
Fisker Ocean
Henrik Fisker is therefore going back to his roots to some degree with the Project Ronin, named not after the leaderless samurai of the Japanese feudal period, but rather the Robert De Niro film best remembered for its thrilling car chases.
Deliveries of the first vehicle from Fisker’s new car company, the Ocean SUV, have yet to begin, but development of both the Project Ronin and the PEAR has already begun.
The company’s engineering and purchasing teams are being transitioned from the Ocean to Project PEAR, of which Fisker wants to create three derivatives and produce one million vehicles annually by 2027.
It has yet to reveal what this vehicle will look like, though it’ll be built by contract manufacturer Foxconn at General Motors’ old plant in Lordstown, Ohio.
Keyword: Fisker teases Project Ronin four-door electric convertible