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Fisker hires adviser to prepare for possible bankruptcy filing

Electric vehicle startup Fisker has hired restructuring advisers to assist with a possible bankruptcy filing, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The company has hired financial adviser FTI Consulting and the law firm Davis Polk to work on a potential bankruptcy filing, according to the report. Fisker declined to comment. According to CNN, Fisker's stock price fell more than 40% in after-hours trading after the report was published. Overall, the stock is down more than 80% since the start of 2024. Earlier this month, Fisker flagged going-concern risks, job cuts and a pause in investments into future projects until it secures a partnership with a manufacturer. Nissan was in advanced talks to invest in Fisker in a deal that could provide the Japanese automaker with access to an electric pickup truck, Reuters reported earlier this month, citing two people familiar with the negotiations.   Earnings/Financials Green Fisker

U.S. opens another probe into Fisker's cars, over brake issue

  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Friday opened a preliminary probe into 6,813 Fisker Ocean SUVs built in 2023, after complaints that the automatic emergency braking system used in the electric vehicles had activated inadvertently. The regulator said its Office of Defects Investigation has received eight complaints alleging activation of the braking system without an apparent roadway obstruction in the vehicle's forward path, resulting in sudden vehicle deceleration. Three of the complaints alleged an injury, the safety agency said. NHTSA's 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. The probe adds to Fisker's woes as its Ocean SUVs were already under investigation by the NHTSA for three prior incidents. Last month, the safety regulator received complaints that the doors of the company's EVs sometimes failed to open. Fisker had flagged "going concern" doubts in February, followed by delisting of its stock from the New York Stock exchange and the collapse of talks with a large automaker for a potential deal in March. The startup had said in April it failed to make an interest payment of about $8.4 million on some notes due in 2026 during a 30-day grace period. The cash-strapped firm initiated insolvency proceedings for its Austrian unit on Tuesday, as it looks for strategic options to raise money to meet its debt obligations. 

Fisker wants $5,000 nonrefundable downpayment to buy Ocean One

In a March press release, Fisker Automotive said it had surpassed 40,000 reservations for its Ocean SUV and would "open pre-order reservations for the limited-edition Fisker Ocean One on July 1, 2022, due to anticipated demand." Later in the same release, CEO Henrik Fisker said, "Our goal is to be completely transparent with our customers. ... We don’t want reservation holders who expect to purchase a Fisker Ocean One to be disappointed, so we are providing them now with the opportunity to secure their vehicle." Those anticipating the chance to buy an Ocean One might not have been disappointed by the e-mail Fisker sent this week, but they certainly would have been surprised. As reported by Electrek, turns out the offer of "pre-order reservations" was actually an invitation to pay a $5,000 nonrefundable downpayment for an Ocean One. As in, this isn't a reservation, this is the beginning of the purchase process, and a change of heart won't get the money back.   We need to make three things clear. First, this only applies to the limited-edition, $69,000 Ocean One. Shoppers interested in the serial production Ocean are fine with their $250 deposit. Second, Fisker isn't the first EV maker to ask a healthy four-figure deposit. When Lucid unveiled the production version of the Air, it took reservations from $300 to $7,5000 depending on trim. Of course, the key difference is that all of Lucid's reservations were refundable. Third, it's not like there aren't thousands of people buying cars sight-unseen nowadays. GMC Hummer EV and Ford F-150 Lightning buyers reserved, then paid for, then laid eyes on their rigs. And between the herds of car flippers and shoppers just trying to get the new vehicle they want, folks are not only buying sight unseen online, they're driving hundreds of miles to do it. With that out of the way, let's say we still think this is an, ahem, gutsy move on Fisker's part. Established automakers with a century of production knowledge and gold-plated supplier relationships can't get vehicles built in a timely manner. Nascent EV makers like the aforementioned Lucid, as well as Rivian, are more likely to announce production cuts or delays than a production milestone. Case in point, Fisker planned to have its contracted Ocean builder, Magna, running the Ocean down lines at the end of last year.