Fisker Warns on Future; In Partnership Talks with Nissan :Comments

[Drew Dowdell]

Fisker issued a stark warning yesterday that it might not be able to continue as a going concern after announcing $463.6 million in losses. Though building more than 10,000 of Fisker's initial model, the Ocean, the company was only able to deliver about 4,700 units in 2023. Fisker initially pursued a direct-to-consumer sales model, but just last month announced it would add dealerships alongside the existing distribution with 13 dealerships across the U.S. and Europe signed up so far. Fisker said its business plan was highly dependent on the success of the dealership model. Fisker aims to deliver 20,000 to 24,000 units in 2024.

CEO Henrik Fisker said, "2023 was a challenging year for Fisker, including delays with suppliers and other issues that prevented us from delivering the Ocean SUV as quickly as we had expected". Fisker additionally said it would be cutting 15% of its workforce and pursuing a partnership with another automaker for investment and joint product development.

This afternoon, a source close to the company revealed that Nissan is the sole manufacturer in "advanced talks" with Fisker.  While details of the deal are preliminary and not finalized, Nissan would invest more than $400 million into Fisker's truck platform, which the two companies would share. Nissan would build its own version of the EV truck at one of its U.S. Assembly plants. 

Nissan was one of the earliest entries in the EV space with its Nissan Leaf hatchback debuting in 2010 but had since failed to gain ground against upstarts like Tesla and industry giants like Hyundai.

The deal could close by the end of March.

Related:
Fisker Ocean Extreme Receives 360-mile EPA Range, Starts Deliveries This Month
Fisker Ocean Can Gain 200 Miles Range in 30 Minutes
Fisker Joins Others to Adopt Tesla's NACS Charging

 

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[smk4565]

It was obvious to everyone except Henrik Fisker that Fisker would go bankrupt.  

Maybe Nissan, Renault and Fisker can all merge and all go bankrupt together, because I think all of them are in trouble when the Chinese manufacturers hit the European and American markets and undercut everyone in price.

[G. David Felt]

41 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

It was obvious to everyone except Henrik Fisker that Fisker would go bankrupt.  

Maybe Nissan, Renault and Fisker can all merge and all go bankrupt together, because I think all of them are in trouble when the Chinese manufacturers hit the European and American markets and undercut everyone in price.

Another problem is quality. Fisker has had many issues with their first EV. 

The forum that was supposed to be a cheerleader for Fisker EVs has had more traffic due to this one story than positive.

https://forums.fiskerati.com/fisker-ocean/ocean-the-good-bad-ugly/

Then you have these constant power loss problems.

https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/09/fisker-ocean-braking-power-loss-problems-investigation/

Then main stream media even says the products they are delivering are not ready.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/reviews/a45997938/2024-fisker-ocean-test-drive/

https://jalopnik.com/fisker-ocean-crossovers-are-falling-apart-in-their-owne-1851244202

So I totally agree that Fisker will have to move in with another much larger auto company to survive.

Saw many comments on the Fisker and one thing everyone seems to agree on is that Designing a good looking auto and engineering is two different things.

[smk4565]

Rivian is probably the last EV start up that will make it.  I doubt Lucid makes it long term unless the Saudi's want to keep wasting money on it.  Fisker and anyone else moving forward is too late to the game, and won't be able to scale fast enough to be profitable.  To be profitable you either need to be making $250,000 cars or be selling a million cars a year.  

[Drew Dowdell]

25 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

Rivian is probably the last EV start up that will make it.  I doubt Lucid makes it long term unless the Saudi's want to keep wasting money on it.  Fisker and anyone else moving forward is too late to the game, and won't be able to scale fast enough to be profitable.  To be profitable you either need to be making $250,000 cars or be selling a million cars a year.  

I think you're both right and wrong. Rivian will make it. I think Lucid will make it too as a pride project for the Saudis. Fisker might have just gotten a lifeline from Nissan, and I hope it works because the Ocean, in concept, is excellent.

I think this will be the last of the current wave of EV manufacturers that make it.  Then, there will be a long pause of around ten years while the market settles.  Then we'll start to see other manufacturers who can pluck stuff from the big manufacturer's parts bins and start making specialty vehicles like roadsters and other niche stuff.