The Fisker PEAR was revealed at the beginning of August this year alongside the ultra-premium Ronin GT sports car. The PEAR is pitched as a compact SUV that is designed with city life in mind. That is to say that the PEAR is meant to be comfortable, compact, and practical. A video walkthrough published by Electrifying on YouTube, however, reveals that the new car’s interior may be at odds with that mantra of practicality.
Between the short overhangs packed with storage space, the six-seater design, and features like internal luggage straps or the Houdini trunk lid, which slides down into the body panel, one might expect the rest of the vehicle’s interior to reflect a similarly utilitarian design philosophy. While some of the interior, like the rugged plastic door panels, dash-mounted luggage straps, ample storage space, and front bench seat all fit in quite well, Fisker seems to have taken the Tesla approach for the driver’s control scheme.
Apart from a few buttons on the driver’s door armrest and the dash behind the left side of the steering wheel as well as two scroll wheels on the steering wheel itself, Fisker has seemingly moved all of the PEAR’s controls to the central infotainment screen. Seemingly following Tesla’s lead again, the PEAR lacks an instrument cluster behind the steering wheel, which means drivers will probably have to rely on the central infotainment screen for vital driving information, too.
The PEAR does set itself apart in a number of ways, though. The short front and rear overhangs and rather compact nature leave very little space on the table, unlike many other cross-over SUVs. The Houdini trunk that opens by sliding the glass panel down into the body panel is a handy touch for tight parking spaces or low basements, while the insulated froot (front boot, as opposed to front trunk) is bound to prove useful for those looking to stow smaller items separately.
One of Fisker’s boasts at the PEAR’s reveal event was that the company managed to reduce the number of parts in the vehicle by 35%, so it’s almost a given that some of those parts were going to be interior trim and buttons. Despite the benefits of reduced complication and increased durability, there are bound to be people that oppose the removal of tactile controls that many find more intuitive and easier to use without taking their eyes off the road.
The Fisker PEAR is expected to launch in 2025 at or under US$30,000, and US EV incentives should bring the price down further thanks to North American manufacturing.
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Julian van der Merwe – Magazine & Specialist News Writer – 361 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2022
My interest in tech started in high school, rooting and flashing my Motorola Defy, but I really fell down the rabbit hole when I realised I could overclock the i7 930 in my Gigabyte pre-built PC. This tinkering addiction eventually lead me to study product design in university. I think tech should improve the lives of the people using it, no matter the field. I like to read and write about laptops, smartphones, software and trends in technology.