Things are going bad for Fisker, very bad in fact. The American electric car manufacturer – which sells the Fisker Ocean in France – has published financial results for the past year. The company's boss warns that the company could go bankrupt within the next 12 months in the worst case scenario.
Fisker Ocean
Fisker is an American manufacturer of electric cars which currently sells only one model, the Fisker Ocean. We tested the electric SUV in the summer of 2023, and we were not far from the scandal, as we told in our video. The brand promised to improve the situation as quickly as possible, with software adjustments to come.
The Fisker Ocean has been sold in France, a few dozen copies since its first deliveries in the summer of 2023. Unfortunately, the company created by Henrik Fisker could go out of business. After going bankrupt for the first time in November 2013, at the time when the manufacturer was selling a hybrid car, the Fisker Karma.
12 months before bankruptcy
As we can read in Fisker's press release, things are going very badly financially for the company. The automaker is losing money (like Rivian and Lucid), but that's not the most serious thing. After all, it's normal to be in deficit the first years of launch, like Tesla which has only really made money since 2020.
We can read in the document that “Fisker's current resources are insufficient to last the next 12 months, the company will have to find funds, via debt or new investors, and there is no certainty that Fisker will succeed this goal” .
Fisker is going even further, since the company will lay off 15% of its employees (or around 200 employees). In the event the company fails to secure additional financing, the statement said, “the company will be forced to reduce its level of investment in product development, lay off more employees and reduce production of the Fisker.” Ocean” .
In other words, if Fisker cannot find more money, through a loan or new investments from major players, it is the end for the company. And the future products that were planned (Fisker Alaska, Fisker Pear, Fisker Ronin) will never see the light of day.
A glimmer of hope
Will Fisker really go bankrupt? Only the future will tell us, but there is still a glimmer of hope. The company announces that it is in discussions “with a major automobile manufacturer for a potential transaction which could include an investment in Fisker, the joint development of one or more car platforms, and a factory in North America”.
Note that for the moment, the Fisker Ocean and Fisker Alaska are based on a platform provided by Magna, a subcontractor in the automotive industry which produces cars in its factories for different manufacturers. She has already invested in Fisker and owns about 10% of the company's shares. We can therefore wonder if Magna will be the savior of Fisker, or if the manufacturer is referring to another big name in the field.
Source: Fisher
Fisker writes in black and white that “the company expects to conclude that there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue” its activities. The boss, Henrik Fisker, took the floor to clarify that he “sees that the highest priority for growth and profitability is to exit Alaska as quickly as possible”. He recognizes that the small Pear compact electric car is “important because it is very affordable, but we must prioritize”.
So be careful if you are interested in purchasing a Fisker Ocean. It is possible that the company will go out of business, which would make maintenance, repairs and software monitoring of this electric car, which already had many problems, quite difficult.