Fisker, an electric vehicle maker by Danish designer Henrik Fisker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week as their last-minute efforts to save the startup fell through. The Chapter 11 bankruptcy code is a failsafe that would allow Fisker to reorganize its debt and pay its creditors overtime instead of closing down. This announcement has seen Fisker join a host of other companies that have been unable to keep up with the competitive EV market.
Proterra, Lordstown, and Electric Last Mile Solutions, are notable names that have filed for bankruptcy in the past 2 years with lower demands, and funding problems being some of the major issues.
Their announcement came in on the 17th of June, where they revealed that they were in talks with creditors about sales of assets and restructuring debts. Fisker is reported to have over 200 creditors including Google, Ansys, Salesforce, and Adobe, with all of these coming just a year after it delivered its Ocean SUV to customers.
In the bankruptcy filing, Fisker Group Inc. which is based in California has estimated assets of $500 million to $1 billion and liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million. Their woes began when customers began to report streams of software and mechanical problems after getting their vehicles. Their lack of ability to provide appropriate customer care and maintenance didn’t do them any good either.
Henrik Fisker who was a former design consultant for Tesla is not a newcomer to the industry. Before Fisker Inc. and the Ocean SUV, he also founded and headed Fisker Automotive which also went bankrupt, and had Karma, an electric sports sedan as its poster child.
