Fisker Files For Bankruptcy, Again (Sort Of)

History is repeating itself, with Fisker filing for bankruptcy. The reason this might feel so familiar is because Fisker Automotive, an earlier electric car company founded by Danish car designer Henrik Fisker, did exactly the same in 2013, folding in early 2014. Fisker Inc. arrived in 2016, once again started by Mr Fisker himself plus his wife Geeta Gupta-Fisker, but it’s trodden a similarly rocky financial path.

In 2023 it made 10,000 examples of its Ocean SUV, about a quarter of what was planned, and only half of those were delivered to customers. It lost $450 million (over £350 million) in the final quarter of that year, and in March 2024 it brought in people to restructure the business. Mass layoffs followed a few months later. Negotiations with potential investors, one of which was rumoured to be Nissan, have faltered.

As part of the Chapter 11 process, its assets - with a value of between $500 million and $1 billion, plus liabilities of $100 million to $500 million - will be reorganised.

In a statement, Fisker Inc. said:

“We are proud of our achievements, and we have put thousands of Fisker Ocean SUVs in customers’ hands in both North American and Europe. But like other companies in the electric vehicle industry, we have faced various market and macroeconomic headwinds that have impacted our ability to operate efficiently.”

The earlier iteration, Fisker Automotive, was known for the Karma, a range-extender electric vehicle made using the bones of the Chevrolet Volt, better known to us in the UK as the Vauxhall Ampera. The company made about 2,000 before production was halted, but its name lives on in the form of Karma Automotive, a firm created using assets bought from Fisker Automotive’s bankruptcy auction.

It’s yet to produce a car but has plans to produce an electric supercar called the Kaveya.