Fisker’s second coming ends in bankruptcy filing

Fisker, the EV brand created by designer Henrik Fisker, has filed for bankruptcy once again. The first time was in 2013 and now it has failed in a bid to secure funding that would have kept the electric car maker in business.

The company made a Q4 2023 loss of more than $450million. Management had been in talks with a number of potential investors, one of whom was Nissan. Evidently the Japanese firm was offered Fisker’s technologies to fast-track an electric ute.

These talks collapsed, however, and trading in Fisker’s shares on the New York Stock Exchange ceased thereafter. The company put on hold production of its first model, the Ocean SUV. The build of this was subcontracted to Magna in Austria. It was also forced to stop development of a cheaper electric SUV, the Pear.

Fisker had cut prices on its Ocean model by up to £15,000, on the understanding that there would be no after-sales support for its vehicles. It made just over 10,000 Oceans in 2023, only one-quarter of the projected number. Under one-half of those were delivered to customers.

Under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a court will oversee a rejigging of the firm’s assets. A statement from the company said “We have faced various market and macroeconomic headwinds that have impacted our ability to operate efficiently.”

Fisker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy a decade ago when development and production of the Karma plug-in hybrid saloon proved unviable.