12:08 pm, June 19, 2024
Troubled EV start-up Fisker has filed for bankruptcy protection in the USA.
The company, which was seen as a rival to Tesla, was launched in 2016 and merged with a blank-cheque firm in 2020 in a flotation that saw it valued at $2.9bn (circa £2.28bn).
It was founded by former Tesla design consultant Henrik Fisker and run by him and his wife Geeta Gupta-Fisker.
But after burning through cash in an attempt to increase production of its Ocean SUVs, it raised concerns in February about being able to stay in business and was subsequently unable to get a big automaker – said by Reuters to be Nissan – to plough money into it.
That in turn prevented it from receiving funding of $350m (£275m) from an undisclosed investor that depended on the manufacturer’s investment and it had to pull back on its operations.
It’s now trying to save what it can of them by selling assets and undergoing a debt restructure.
In a statement, Fisker said: ‘Like other companies in the electric vehicle industry, we have faced various market and macroeconomic headwinds that have impacted our ability to operate efficiently.’
Its Chapter 11 filing in Delaware shows that creditors include Alphabet’s Google and Adobe.
EV companies that have filed for bankruptcy over the past two years include Lordstown, Proterra and Electric Last Mile Solutions, citing fundraising hurdles, a weakening of demand plus global supply chain issues affecting operations, said Reuters.
The Ocean SUV was afflicted with hardware and software problems, and Reuters quoted CFRA Research vice-president and equity analyst Garrett Nelson as saying: ‘Fisker has been on life support for months now, so [the] announcement doesn’t come as a surprise.
‘It wasn’t the first EV upstart [sic] to declare bankruptcy and we don’t think it’ll be the last.’
