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Fisker faced financial distress as early as August 2023
June 21, 2024 — According to a new filing in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding, Fisker was facing “potential financial distress” as early as August 2023. That looming financial distress drove Fisker to solicit a partnership or investment from another automaker, according to the filing.
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Fisker failed because it wasn’t ready to be a car company
June 18, 2024 — In the wake of its bankruptcy, Fisker said it will continue “reduced operations,” including “preserving customer programs, and compensating needed vendors on a go-forward basis.” In other words, it will continue to manage a bare-bones operation in case there is a willing buyer of the assets it’s putting up for sale in the Chapter 11 case.
Fisker Ocean SUVImage Credits:Fisker -
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Fisker filed for bankruptcy
June 18, 2024 — After a year of struggling to stay afloat, Fisker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The California-based company had been seeking a deal with another automaker in a last-ditch effort to rescue the enterprise. The company estimated assets of $500 million to $1 billion and liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million, according to the filing.
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Ocean SUV issued first recall
June 12, 2024 — Fisker issued the first recall for the Ocean SUV because of problems with the warning lights, according to new information published by the NHTSA. The instrument panel displays the brake, park and antilock brake system warning lights in the wrong font size and, at times, in the wrong color, making them noncompliant with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. The agency also says “multiple warning lights fail to illuminate during the ignition cycle.
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Inside Fisker’s collapse
May 31, 2024 — The road to Fisker’s ultimate ruin may have started and ended with its flawed Ocean SUV, which was riddled with mechanical and software problems. But it was paved with hubris, power struggles, and the repeated failure to set up basic processes that are foundational for any automaker.
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch -
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Hundreds of workers cut to keep EV startup alive
May 29, 2024 — Hundreds more employees were laid off during the final week of May in a bid to stay alive, as the automaker continues to search for funding, a buyout or prepare for bankruptcy. One current and one laid off employee estimated that only about 150 people remained at the company.
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Fisker Ocean faced fourth federal safety probe
May 10, 2024 — The NHTSA opened a fourth investigation into the Fisker Ocean SUV to probe multiple claims of “inadvertent Automatic Emergency Braking.” The eight complaints allege that owners experienced sudden activation of the Automatic Emergency Braking system in moments where there were no other vehicles or obstructions in the path of their cars.
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Fisker stiffed engineering firm
May 3, 2024 — Fisker stopped paying the engineering firm that helped develop the Pear, a low-cost EV meant for the masses, and the Alaska, Fisker’s entry into the red-hot pickup truck market. The firm also accuses Fisker of wrongfully holding on to IP associated with those vehicles.
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New round of layoffs to ‘preserve cash’
April 29, 2024 — Fisker laid off more employees to “preserve cash,” making good on a plan announced one week before, according to an internal email viewed by TechCrunch. Fisker expects to seek bankruptcy protection within the next 30 days if it can’t come up with that money, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regulatory filing.
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Fisker lost track of millions of dollars in customer payments for months
March 27, 2024 — Fisker temporarily lost track of millions of dollars in customer payments as it scaled up deliveries, leading to an internal audit that started in December and took months to complete. Fisker struggled to keep tabs on these transactions, which included down payments and in some cases, the full price of the vehicles, because of lax internal procedures for keeping track of them, according to three people familiar with the internal payment crisis. In a few cases, it delivered vehicles without collecting any form of payment at all, they said.
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Trading suspended by NYSE
March 25, 2024 — The New York Stock Exchange suspended trading shares of Fisker and moved to take the company off its stock exchange, because it is “no longer suitable for listing” because of “abnormally low” price levels.
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Fisker lost Nissan deal, putting rescue funds at risk
March 25, 2024 — The negotiations between Fisker and a large automaker — reported to be Nissan — over a potential investment and collaboration were terminated, a development that puts a separate near-term rescue funding effort in danger. Fisker revealed in a regulatory filing that the automaker terminated the negotiations March 22. It did not explain why. But the company had to keep the negotiations going as part of one of the closing conditions for a potential $150 million convertible note.
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The fall of EV startup Fisker
Henrik Fisker once envisioned a burgeoning EV empire at the startup he named after himself, which was to be led by the Ocean SUV. But cracks started showing in that vision almost as soon as the Ocean hit the road in 2023.
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