Fisker Inches Closer to Bankruptcy After Talks With Potential Partner Fall Through
Fisker's stock was suspended after it failed to close a partnership deal with a major automaker.
The last eight months have been quite the rollercoaster for Fisker. The startup EV carmaker appeared to be riding high after its Ocean SUV finally hit the market and, in August 2023, Fisker revealed three new models: the Pear crossover, the Alaska truck, and Ronin sports car that would join it.
0:00 / 0:00
Founder Henrik Fisker even made the ambitious decree that the Alaska would be available by December 2024. Big swings like that require a bowl full of confidence. Soon though, things started to go south. It started with Fisker’s Q4 2023 earnings report, in which it revealed “substantial doubt about its ability to continue,” after it analyzed its financial standing.
Fisker said it was in talks with a “major automaker” for a cash infusion that could keep things going. Automotive News reported that the automaker in question was Nissan, and that Fisker was in talks with the Japanese company to build its Alaska electric truck. Well, according to a report from CNBC those talks fell through and Fisker is left without a partner and—more importantly—without that much-needed investment boost.
A viable competitor to the Rivian R1T, Ford F-150 Lightning, and Tesla Cybertruck like the Alaska could do well in the current market if it was set at a competitive price. If Fisker were to secure adequate funding to meet its Alaska production goals, it might have significantly turned things around for the company, though its direct sales idea would still need to be fixed first in order to clear out substantial undelivered inventory.
As such, Fisker put a six-week halt on all production to focus on selling remaining vehicle inventory to mitigate further financial losses, but the damage may already be done. The NYSE halted all trading of Fisker stock due to an “abnormally low” price. At the time of this article Fisker stock is currently listed at just $0.026 per share.
The automaker is currently in default on a $8.6 million interest payment it held off on while it was in negotiations for a partner investment. Now that we know those negotiations fell through it’s not clear how the startup plans to make good on that debt. Fisker hasn’t officially declared bankruptcy yet, but the writing appears to be on the wall.
Andrew Beckford’s passion for cars started as a middle schooler when his friend Richie explained how an internal combustion engine works. He was bitten by the bug and the rest, as they say, is history. He dug deep into the tuner scene and eventually wrote for Turbo Magazine, Import Tuner, Super Street. He covered car shows, feature builds, and reviewed racing games for those magazines in addition to covering motorsports including Formula Drift, Indy Car, and F1 for his personal blog. Eventually Beckford joined MotorTrend to cover the daily automotive news beat. Besides being a gearhead, Beckford has been a gamer since the ’80s and is a huge fan of the arcade racing games of the ’90s like Daytona USA, SEGA Rally, and Ridge Racer. Beckford’s a movie buff as well, especially comic book films from DC and Marvel. When car culture crosses over with gaming and entertainment, rest assured Beckford is aware of it. In addition to serving as a consultant on a “triple A” racing titles, he’s reviewed major racing games such as Forza Motorsport, Need for Speed, Gran Turismo, F1, and more. He’s also interviewed blockbuster directors including Steven Caple Jr. (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts) and Neill Blomkamp (Gran Turismo). His biggest profile to date was with Robert Downey Jr. on his love affair with cars and his show Downey’s Dream Cars on MAX. Beckford’s profile of Downey Jr. was the first print cover story written by an African American in MotorTrend’s history. Along with KJ Jones, Andrew Beckford also heads up MotorTrend’s celebration of Black History Month by spotlighting diverse voices in the automotive industry and motorsports. Beckford’s first car was a 1982 Nissan Stanza affectionately named “Stanley” by his late mother.
Read More