Fisker Inc.

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Fisker Inc.
Company typePublic
NYSE: FSR
ISINUS33813J1060
IndustryAutomotive
PredecessorFisker Automotive, Fisker Coachbuild
FoundedOctober 3, 2016; 7 years ago (2016-10-03) in Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Founder
HeadquartersManhattan Beach, California, U.S.[1]
Products
Number of employees
455 (May 2022)[2]
Websitefiskerinc.com

Fisker Inc. is an American automotive company founded by Danish automotive designer Henrik Fisker and his wife Geeta Gupta-Fisker.

Launched in 2016 and based in Manhattan Beach, California, Fisker Inc. is the successor to Fisker Automotive.[3] In the summer of 2020, Fisker Inc. announced an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange through a merger with Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp, a SPAC backed by private equity firm Apollo Global Management.[4] The company completed the reverse merger that autumn.[5] Fisker Inc. developed the Fisker Ocean, an electric sport utility vehicle (SUV), which was released in 2023.[6][7]

In 2024, the company experienced intense financial difficulties and its shares were delisted from the NYSE.

History

Fisker press event at IAA Mobility with Henrik Fisker highlighting several of the electric vehicles of the company.

In 2007, Henrik Fisker and Bernhard Koehler founded Fisker Automotive.[8] The company produced the Fisker Karma, which debuted in 2008 and was first delivered in 2011.[8] Production was suspended in 2012 due to the bankruptcy of its battery supplier A123 Systems,[9] after approximately 2,000 of the vehicles had been sold worldwide.[10] In 2014, Fisker Automotive's assets were purchased by Wanxiang Group, which renamed its new company Karma Automotive. Henrik Fisker retained the Fisker trademarks and brand.[11]

On October 3, 2016, chairman and CEO Henrik Fisker announced the formation of Fisker Inc., an American automaker,[12][13][14] with his wife and co-founder Geeta Gupta-Fisker as president and CFO.[15][16][17] On July 8, 2020, Fisker announced the completion of a $50 million Series C financing round funded by Moore Strategic Ventures, the private investment arm of Louis Bacon.[18]

On July 13, 2020, Henrik Fisker announced that Fisker Inc would offer an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange through a merger with special-purpose acquisition company Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp. (NYSE:SPAQ), which is backed by private equity firm Apollo Global Management. The deal valued Fisker Inc at US$2.9 billion.[19][20] On September 24, 2020, Fisker opened a new technology center in San Francisco, to be a focal point for the development of the company's software and vehicle electronics.[21] On October 14, 2020, Fisker announced its new global headquarters will be located in Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles County, California.[22] On October 29, 2020, Fisker announced it completed the reverse merger with Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp (NYSE:SPAQ). Beginning on October 30, 2020, Fisker has been publicly listed and traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FSR.[23][24]

On June 28, 2021, Fisker stock was added to the Russell 3000 Index.[25] On July 28, 2021, Fisker announced it would invest $10 million in private investment in public equity funding in the EV charging company Allego's merger with Spartan Acquisition Corp III.[26]

Henrik Fisker announced in 2022 that Fisker Inc. would be setting up its first India entity, a global technology center, in Hyderabad. The company has started recruitment for the center, and announced plans to have a team of 300 software engineers, working mainly on software technologies, and to set up a manufacturing plant in India for their PEAR model, in collaboration with Foxconn. Fisker Inc. and Foxconn initially targeted annual production at 1 million units of the PEAR.[27][28]

In June 2023, Fisker announced that it intended to produce vehicles in China.[29] Later that year, Fisker announced that it would transition from the CCS charging connector to NACS, with access to Tesla's Supercharger network starting in 2025, first via a CCS-NACS adapter, later making new vehicles with NACS jacks.[30][31] By the end of 2023, Fisker announced that it has “now achieved all required approvals and licenses, and satisfied insurance requirements, to sell vehicles in Canada”,[32] and in January 2024, the company announced it would sell vehicles through dealers alongside its direct to consumer sales.[33]

2024 financial difficulties

In March 2024, due to a net loss of over $463 million in 2023, Fisker announced that it was in financial trouble and did not have the necessary funds to remain in business through the coming year. Due to this, the company reduced its workforce by 15% and paused development of the Pear compact EV. Fisker subsequently entered talks with a major car manufacturer (suspected to be Nissan) regarding a $400 million cash injection (in order to generate cash or reduce costs) in exchange for access to the Fisker Alaska pick-up platform.[34][35] Several weeks later, the The Wall Street Journal reported that Fisker hired financial adviser FTI Consulting and the law firm Davis Polk to work on a potential Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. As a result, Fisker's stock plummeted approximately 47% shortly after the announcement.[36] The next day, Fisker averted off talks for a bankruptcy filing, and the company has plans to engage with its advisors and to plan out a deal with another major carmaker.[37]

Nevertheless, Fisker soon announced that it would suspend vehicle production for six weeks in an effort to align inventory levels and progress strategic and financing initiatives. The company warned that bankruptcy was imminent and could occur within weeks.[38] One week later, on March 25, 2024, Fisker announced that the potential deal with the major carmaker had collapsed, and that the company was unable to meet a closing condition for a $150 million lifeline through convertible bond sales. The company's stock trades were halted that morning; hours later, the New York Stock Exchange announced it would delist Fisker's shares.[39]

Vehicles

Released

Fisker Ocean

One sustainable element is renewable energy captured by a solar roof adding around 1,500 miles a year.[40]

On March 18, 2019, Fisker announced an all-electric SUV to be launched in 2021. It is intended to be the first of three in a lineup of mass-market all-electric vehicles designed by Henrik Fisker and originally planned to be produced in the US.[41] Later named the Fisker Ocean, the company advertises that it will have a range of "close to 300 miles", available on the lowest-cost option.[42][43]

The SUV is offered in both front- and all-wheel drive.[44] The company states that it will be supplied by a lithium-ion battery pack with a capacity of around 80 kWh and a solar panel roof as a range extender, adding around 1,500 free miles of range per year.[40] The company claims that the Fisker Ocean is being designed with a large number of recycled materials and with sustainability in mind.[45][46][47]

Prototype

Fisker Pear

The Pear is an announced "urban" electric vehicle planned by Fisker.[48] The company intended to charge $29,900 before taxes and incentives in the US. The Pear was planned to be built at Foxconn's plant in Lordstown, Ohio using the Foxconn MIH EV platform with an initial production target of 250,000 annually.[49][50] As of February 15, 2022, Fisker Inc. started to take reservations for the Pear.[51]

Fisker Ronin

A prototype of a sports car called the Fisker Ronin was unveiled on 3 August 2023.[52]

Fisker Alaska

A prototype of a crossover SUV called the Fisker Alaska was unveiled on 3 August 2023.[52]

Technology initiatives

Unsuccessful nanotech partnership

In 2016, Fisker Inc. teamed up with Nanotech Energy to create a joint venture called Fisker Nanotech, with Jack Kavanaugh as chairman.[12][53][54] They worked on developing a next-generation supercapacitor technology using graphene.[13][53][55] The proposed hybrid battery using graphene supercapacitors had the potential for improved energy conducting and charging capabilities, and a better cycle life, so that the battery would not need to be swapped out as often as a pure lithium-ion battery.[53] In July 2017, Fisker Inc. ended its joint venture with Nanotech Energy to produce batteries using graphene.[56]

Abandoned solid-state battery research

On November 13, 2017, Fisker Inc. announced that it had filed patents on flexible solid-state battery designs, expecting the batteries to be produced on a mass scale around 2023.[57] A faked solid-state battery with plastic case hiding a nonrechargeable "coin cell" battery, debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2018 among other venues.[58] Fisker's development team included Fabio Albano, one of the founders of Sakti3, the solid-state battery startup sold to Dyson in 2015.[59][60] Solid-state batteries have greater energy density and faster charging times than lithium-ion batteries.[57] In October 2018, Fisker Inc. announced new funding through Caterpillar Venture Capital, a subsidiary of the Caterpillar Inc. heavy-machinery manufacturing company, with the money going toward development of Fisker Inc.'s solid-state battery technology.[61][62] In 2021, less than 3 months after a larger follow-on investment by Caterpillar that was misappropriated, Fisker dropped its plans to use solid-state batteries; Henrik Fisker stated that the company could not make the technology work successfully,[63] though it went on to win a prestigious R&D 100 award. [64]

See also

References

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External links

  • Official website
  • Henrik Fisker website
  • Business data for Fisker, Inc.: