- Fisker delivered its first model, the Ocean SUV, last year.
- The brand has been plagued by supply and quality issues since the model’s launch.
- The founder and CEO is Henrik Fisher, famous for the Aston Martin DB9 and the BMW Z8.
US electric vehicle (EV) brand Fisker filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday night after months of rescue talks collapsed.
The Fisker Group, which operates the electric vehicle division of the business, missed sales targets a year ago for its Ocean SUV and has been struggling ever since.
In March, the New York Stock Exchange delisted Fisker shares due to “abnormally low” prices.
American carmaker Fisker launched its first volume sales model, the Ocean SUV, in February 2022. Its starting price is less than £35,000.
The Californian car brand attempted to challenge Elon Musk and Tesla’s electric vehicle empire with its sleek, zero-emissions family model, which has a range of 270 to 400 miles, depending on specifications.
Henrik Fisker, automotive designer and CEO of Fisker (pictured), said on Monday: “Like other companies in the electric vehicle industry, we have faced several macroeconomic and market obstacles that have affected our ability to operate efficiently.”
Fisker, founded by Danish automotive designer Henrik Fisker, best known for designing the Aston Martin DB9 and the V8 Vantage and the BMW Z8 of James Bond fame, had flagged “substantial doubts” about its ability to stay in business in February. .
Fisker failed to secure financing from a major automaker, which Reuters reported was Nissan, forcing the company to suspend manufacturing of the Ocean and the upcoming Pear hatchback, reduce its operations and cut its workforce.
Fisker Inc. was founded in 2016 by Fisker and his wife Geeta Gupta-Fisker and went public in 2020.
The model was to rely on parts supplier Magna to assemble its vehicles in order to avoid the huge investment of building factories.
The ambitions were big, and the sustainability-focused brand even secured an audience with the Pope to build the first all-electric ‘Popemobile’ by retrofitting an Ocean with a folding, cube-shaped glass dome.
But not even divine intervention could help.
With a production projection of 50,000 vehicles per year by 2023, the brand has been plagued by missed production targets, supply delays and mechanical problems when launching the Ocean SUV.
Only about 10,000 Oceans were produced and just under 5,000 cars were delivered, even after prices were reduced from about $60,000 to less than $40,000.
Henrik Fisker showed the Pope his plans for an all-electric Fisker Ocean popemobile during an audience with His Holiness at the Vatican in 2021.
Fisker is one of the recent EV flops in the U.S. Lordstown Motors, Electric Last Mile Solutions and bus and battery company Proterra all filed for bankruptcy between 2022 and 2023.
In Monday’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in Delaware, Fisker Group Inc estimates debts of up to $500m (£393m).
The filing protects the group of creditors that include Adobe, Alphabet’s Google and SAP, while it restructures its debt and sells assets.
It is Fisker’s second failed attempt to bring an electrified brand to market.
In 2012, Fisker Automotive launched a Karma plug-in hybrid (PHEV), the world’s first luxury PHEV. Struck by bad luck, the company even lost a shipment of 300 cars worth $30 million to Hurricane Sandy.
CEO Fisker said Monday: “Like other companies in the electric vehicle industry, we have faced several macroeconomic and market headwinds that have impacted our ability to operate efficiently.”
