2023 Fisker Ocean on 2040-cars

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Fisker is laying off 15% of staff and says it needs more cash ahead of a 'difficult year'

Electric vehicle startup Fisker is planning to lay off 15% of its workforce and says it likely does not have enough cash on hand to survive the next 12 months. The company says it is trying to find a way to raise that money as it works through a pivot from direct sales to a dealership model. "[W]e have put a plan in place to streamline the company as we prepare for another difficult year," founder and CEO Henrik Fisker said in a statement. Fisker reported more than 1,300 employees as of the end of September 2023, meaning the cut could affect close to 200 people. The company's share price plunged 35% in after-hours trading. Fisker said Thursday that it finished 2023 with $396 million in cash, though $70 million of that is restricted. The company says it is talking with one of its lenders about making "an additional investment" in the company. It also claims it is "in negotiations with a large automaker for a potential transaction which could include an investment in Fisker, joint development of one or more electric vehicle platforms, and North America manufacturing." A partnership like that will be crucial, as Fisker executives said on a call Thursday that it won't invest any more money in its future products unless it works with another automaker. That means the fates of a pickup truck, compact EV and other models that Fisker has teased are now in question. The company's financial struggles come as it is trying to move to a wholesale model built around partnerships with dealers, a shift that Fisker says has "negatively impacted" its sales so far. It's currently sitting on inventory of thousands of vehicles that are collectively worth more than $500 million. Fisker says it has received interest from around 250 dealerships but has only signed up 13 to date. Fisker has also been dealing with a number of problems with its Ocean SUV, its only model so far, as TechCrunch reported earlier this month. The company has said it resolved some issues with a software update in December and planned to fix many more in a larger 2.0 update earlier this month, but that only started making its way to customer vehicles this week. It is currently being investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for reports of sudden brake failure, as well as for a handful of vehicle rollaway incidents. A number of big automakers are pulling back on their aggressive EV targets, and newer players are having trouble as well.

Fisker brings new Ronin, Alaska, Pear, and Ocean Force E to 'Product Vision Day'

With the Fisker Ocean reaching customers and a so-far successful first wave of media drives, company CEO Henrik Fisker took the stage in Huntington Beach, California last night to go over the products that are part of Fisker, Inc's second chapter. These are the Pear city car, which Fisker expects to be the company's best-seller; the Ronin four-door convertible flagship, produced in limited numbers; the Alaska pickup, built on an extended version of the Ocean's platform; and the Force E off-road package for the Ocean, available as a factory option or a dealer-installed kit after purchase. The CTO was also there to discuss the new Blade processing platform that will make all of the company's in-car tech dreams come true and debut with the Pear. We'll start with the Pear. It's built on a new SLV1 platform, an acronym Fisker said stood for "simple, versatile, and volume." We're not sure what the L is for, perhaps light, based on the claim the Pear uses 35% fewer parts than an equivalent city car. Engineers achieved this with measures like producing a single symmetrical armrest piece that fits all four doors. Parked on stage next to an Ocean, the Pear is clearly smaller, but it doesn't look at all small. We'll need to see it in the open with other objects for reference to understand the sizing. There were neat design elements like the giant windshield, the concave hatch glass attached at the top to the spoiler, a flash glass panel arcing over the roof at the rear three-quarter, and a taillight that formed an oval around the backlight. The hero car also had a roof full of solar panels.  The way the CEO talked about Pear features, the target audience of urban dwellers moves in packs that need places to store lots of stuff and maybe sleep. "Everything in the dash is about storage," he said, revealing an instrument panel with a central screen surrounded by recesses, some of the recesses topped by rubber straps that secure goods. He didn't demonstrate the front trunk, which he called the front boot in UK English, then shortened to "froot." He did demonstrate the Houdini trunk. When an owner wants to load the rear bay, the hatch glass disappears into the lower metal portion of the hatch, then that lower potion slides down into the bumper. A neat piece that doesn't need room in a tight parking spot, takes a lot longer than opening a hatch, though.

Fisker teases $40,000 mass-volume EV to be revealed on March 18

Fisker news hasn't washed across the transom in a while, but Danish designer Henrik Fisker has been making waves. In one week, his latest venture, Fisker Inc., will debut a new battery-electric vehicle that will cost "close to $40,000." Based on the teaser photo and Fisker's comments about the car, we're expecting a small crossover. To be built in the U.S. and expected to launch in 2021, this will be the company's volume model eventually aiming for several hundred thousand sales per year. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. It will compete somewhere around the BMW X3 ICE category and Tesla Model Y EV segment. The only thing we know about its looks beyond the A-pillar and side mirror is Fisker's desire "to make it really futuristic-looking." At the same time, "it has to be very versatile because we obviously want to get into a certain high volume with the vehicle." Everything's still in flux, and Fisker has learned not to promise hard dates, so we won't be surprised if dates and specs change even after the March 18 reveal. A year ago, when the Fisker EMotion debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show, we wrote that it's "set to launch by the end of 2019, with a starting price of $129,000. The company is currently taking reservations for $2,000 at its website." That's changed due to focus on the volume model. In an interview with CleanTechnica last September, Fisker said "we will go faster to the affordable, high-volume vehicle and the EMotion could come out either simultaneously or even after the high-volume vehicle." No doubt one timetable issue is the battery — Fisker wants a solid-state battery for the $40,000 car and the EMotion. In-house R&D has advanced to building small test units by hand. By the end of the year he wants batteries large enough to test in a car, and to have found a manufacturing partner to produce the batteries, followed by on-road testing throughout 2020. Fisker Inc has secured 15 patents so far for solid-state battery technology with 2.5 times the energy density of current lithium-ion batteries. The goal is 400 miles on a full charge and a full recharge in 10 minutes or less. We'll know more in a few days. Whatever waits under the covers will be judged against this standard: " We have to be so radical that we take the people who's maybe jumping ship from the big car makers.