Fisker Inc filed for bankruptcy on Monday, months after the electric vehicle (EV) start-up stopped production of its only model, the oft-malfunctioning Ocean sport utility vehicle (SUV).
The company listed between US$500 million and US$1 billion of assets, and between US$100 million and US$500 million of liabilities, in its petition filed in Delaware. The filing protects Fisker from creditors while it works out a plan to repay them.
Fisker is the second plug-in car company started by Henrik Fisker — a famed designer of BMW and Aston Martin sports cars — to end up in bankruptcy. An earlier venture, Fisker Automotive, filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2013 after a series of recalls spelled the downfall of its battery supplier, a fellow recipient of US Energy Department loans.
Photo: AP
The undoing of Fisker Inc was more self-inflicted. The start-up went public in 2020 as part of the wave of EV companies to benefit from the pandemic era boom in special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). Combining with a SPAC sponsored by Apollo Global Management Inc left Fisker with roughly US$1 billion in cash and helped the company land a deal with a Magna International Inc subsidiary that manufactures vehicles for the likes of Toyota Motor Corp, BMW AG and Mercedes-Benz AG.
While Fisker Ocean SUV production started on schedule in November 2022, the first SUVs lacked basic features including cruise control. The California-based company told customers it would deploy capabilities it had promised them the following year, via over-the-air software updates.
Software bugs ended up slowing production for months, leading Fisker to repeatedly slash its forecasts. In February of this year, influential YouTuber Marques Brownlee produced a video — This is the Worst Car I’ve Ever Reviewed — that summarizes a series of issues he experienced while borrowing an Ocean from a New Jersey dealership. The video has racked up more than 5.7 million views.
Fisker produced 10,193 Oceans last year but delivered only 4,929 vehicles to customers. The company attempted a dramatic pivot in early January, seeking out partnerships with franchised dealers in North America in a move away from selling SUVs directly to consumers.
By February, Fisker warned there was substantial doubt about its ability to continue operating. The following month, the company announced it had secured US$150 million from an existing lender, though the financing was contingent on Fisker securing investment from an unidentified automaker. A week after that disclosure, Fisker said that talks with the carmaker had ended without a deal.
Magna executives said during an earnings call last month that the company’s updated outlook for this year assumed no further production of Ocean SUVs. While the company laid off 400 to 500 people from its facility in Graz, Austria, the plant employs around 7,000 workers and continues to manufacture vehicles for BMW, Mercedes, Toyota and Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC.
Fisker’s bankruptcy comes as EV makers struggle to adapt to slowing sales in the US and across much of Europe.
The company follows a handful of other EV start-ups into bankruptcy, including Charge Enterprises Inc, the installer of EV charging stations that filed for Chapter 11 protection in March. Other EV makers that have filed for bankruptcy include Lordstown Motors Corp, Proterra Inc and Electric Last Mile Solutions Inc.
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
‘MAKE OR BREAK’: Nvidia shares remain down more than 9 percent, but investors are hoping CEO Jensen Huang’s speech can stave off fears that the sales boom is peaking Shares in Nvidia Corp’s Taiwanese suppliers mostly closed higher yesterday on hopes that the US artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer would showcase next-generation technologies at its annual AI conference slated to open later in the day. The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in California is to feature developers, engineers, researchers, inventors and information technology professionals, and would focus on AI, computer graphics, data science, machine learning and autonomous machines. The event comes at a make-or-break moment for the firm, as it heads into the next few quarters, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech today seen as having the ability to
NEXT GENERATION: The company also showcased automated machines, including a nursing robot called Nurabot, which is to enter service at a Taichung hospital this year Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) expects server revenue to exceed its iPhone revenue within two years, with the possibility of achieving this goal as early as this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said on Tuesday at Nvidia Corp’s annual technology conference in San Jose, California. AI would be the primary focus this year for the company, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), as rapidly advancing AI applications are driving up demand for AI servers, Liu said. The production and shipment of Nvidia’s GB200 chips and the anticipated launch of GB300 chips in the second half of the year would propel
The battle for artificial intelligence supremacy hinges on microchips, but the semiconductor sector that produces them has a dirty secret: It is a major source of chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems. Global chip sales surged more than 19 percent to about US$628 billion last year, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, which forecasts double-digit growth again this year. That is adding urgency to reducing the effects of “forever chemicals” — which are also used to make firefighting foam, nonstick pans, raincoats and other everyday items — as are regulators in the US and Europe who are beginning to
RSS