2023 Fisker Ocean One on 2040-cars

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NHTSA opens preliminary probe into Fisker Ocean over door failure

The U.S. auto safety regulator said on Wednesday it had opened a preliminary probe into Fisker's 2023 Ocean SUVs after complaints that the doors of the electric vehicles sometimes failed to open, the latest setback for the cash-strapped startup. The regulator said its Office of Defects Investigation received 14 complaints alleging an intermittent failure of the latch and handle that prevented the opening of the driver, front passenger and/or rear doors. Some of the reports also alleged the emergency override mechanism also failed to open the door. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) preliminary evaluation will look into the scope and severity of the potential problem to assess its impact on safety. The regulator could close the investigation into Fisker without taking any potential action. Fisker, whose stock was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange last month over failure to comply with listing norms, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. NHTSA is also investigating Fisker for two prior incidents — one regarding issues with the 2023 Ocean SUV's brakes and the other pertaining to unintended vehicle movement. Fisker is facing mounting uncertainty after talks with a large automaker for a potential investment collapsed last month, forcing it to look for options including in- or out-of-court restructurings and capital market transactions. The company said last week it would cut the prices of its 2023 Ocean SUV models to boost sales and raise capital to meet debt obligations as it faces depleting cash reserves. Fisker, like other EV makers, is grappling with intense competition, as well as customers holding back big-ticket purchases due to higher borrowing costs and economic uncertainty. The company said on March 18 that it would pause vehicle production for six weeks.

Fisker delivers 4,700 electric cars in 2023, shares jump on quadrupled sales

Henrik Fisker shows off the coming Fisker Alaska pickup. (Getty Images)   Fisker said on Friday its electric vehicle deliveries jumped more than four-fold during the final quarter, helping it hand over about 4,700 vehicles for the year. The rise in quarterly sales volume was primarily driven by strong demand for the Fisker Ocean SUV, priced at about $69,000, the company said. Fisker started making its first deliveries to U.S. customers in June. The company will announce a plan in January to boost sales and deliveries to align production capacity with strong demand for the Ocean SUV, Fisker said. Shares of the California-based EV company were up more than 10% in premarket trading. They have lost about 79% so far this year. Smaller EV firms are facing dwindling cash reserves, pressured by high costs related to production ramp-ups and price cuts to boost demand. Fisker, which has a deal with Magna International's Austrian unit to manufacture its cars, made 10,142 vehicles in 2023. The company, however, slashed its annual production forecast twice in the past two months as it slowed down production to meet working capital needs.  

Auto startups chasing Tesla race past red flags to go public

Missed out on the Tesla rally but still want to surf the electric vehicle wave? A stream of EV-related startups backed by blank-check firms is lining up to go public so there are plenty of choices. But like Tesla in the early days, few have products ready to sell or any likelihood of generating significant revenue anytime soon. Instead, investors will be relying on rosy production, sales and revenue forecasts for new cars, trucks and batteries, all set to be jostling for a slice of markets that will be far more crowded than when Tesla's cars first hit the road. Take Fisker Inc, for example. It was launched in 2016, just three years after the bankruptcy of its predecessor and early Tesla rival Fisker Automobile. In July, Fisker Inc announced a $2.9 billion reverse merger deal with Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp, a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), and is planning to go public later this year. It has no revenue and its Fisker Ocean electric sports-utility vehicle (SUV) is at least two years away from production in a project heavily dependent on nailing down deals with partners who will build the car and provide key components. That's not particularly unique for young companies in the sector looking to use SPACs to go public and bypass the scrutiny of a traditional IPO process, according to company presentations and interviews with executives and investors. That also didn't seem to be an issue earlier this year when U.S. electric truck maker Nikola Motors used a SPAC to go public. Shares in the company that hopes to generate revenue next year almost trebled after listing on the Nasdaq exchange. But they slumped when a short-seller questioned whether founder Trevor Milton had made false claims about Nikola's technology, forcing the 38-year-old entrepreneur to step down as executive chairman — and making some investors more cautious. Nikola and Milton have publicly rejected the accusations and have threatened to take legal action against the short-seller, Hindenberg Research. "Good storytelling is an important component of being a good founder and entrepreneur — but it better not be the only component," says Evangelos Simoudis, managing partner and founder of startup investor Synapse Partners. 'IT'S A FORECAST' Fisker Inc's founder Henrik Fisker is well known in the industry for designing sports cars such as Aston Martin's Vantage, and for his failed EV firm Fisker Automobile that went bust in 2013 after burning through more than $1 billion.