Topics
Latest
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:Fisker
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Image Credits:Fisker
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
endeavour
EVs
Fintech
fund-raise
appliance
Gaming
Government & Policy
Hardware
layoff
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
Security
societal
blank
Startups
TikTok
transit
speculation
More from TechCrunch
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Podcasts
Videos
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
get through Us
electrical vehicle startupFiskeris plan to lie off 15 % of its workforce andsaysit likely does not have enough immediate payment on hand to survive the next 12 months . The company enounce it is trying to find a direction to kick upstairs that money as it act upon through a pin from lineal sales to a dealership mannikin .
“ [ W]e have put a plan in place to streamline the caller as we organize for another difficult year , ” founder and CEO Henrik Fisker said in a statement . Fisker cover more than 1,300 employees as of the final stage of September 2023 , meaning the cutting off could affect close to 200 hoi polloi . The troupe ’s parcel toll plunk 35 % in after - hours trading .
Fisker said Thursday that it finish 2023 with $ 396 million in cash , though $ 70 million of that is restrict . The fellowship says it is talking with one of its lenders about get “ an additional investment ” in the ship’s company . It also claims it is “ in negotiations with a large auto manufacturer for a potential transaction which could admit an investment in Fisker , joint ontogenesis of one or more electric fomite platforms , and North America manufacture . ”
A partnership like that will be crucial , as Fisker executives said on a call Thursday that it wo n’t put any more money in its future products unless it works with another automaker . That means the lot of a pickup truck , compact EV and other models that Fisker has teased are now in question .
The party ’s financial battle come as it is seek to move to a sweeping model built around partnerships with dealers , a teddy that Fisker say has “ negatively impacted ” its sales so far . It ’s currently sit on inventory of K of vehicle that are collectively deserving more than $ 500 million . Fisker tell it has received interest from around 250 dealerships but has only signed up 13 to date .
Fisker has also been mete out with a routine of problems with its Ocean SUV , its only exemplar so far , asTechCrunch reported in the first place this month . The company has said it resolved some consequence with a computer software update in December and planned to fix many more in a larger 2.0 update earlier this calendar month , but that only started build its way to client vehicles this week . It is currently being inquire by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for reports of sudden brake unsuccessful person , as well as for a smattering of fomite rollaway incidents .
A numeral of swelled auto manufacturer are pulling back on their aggressive EV targets , and newer players are stimulate difficulty as well . Rivian recentlyannouncedit was cutting 10 % of its workforce and that it expects to make around the same phone number of EVs this twelvemonth as it did in 2023 . Lucid Motors contrive to build around 9,000 vehicle this year afteronce predictingit would be work up 90,000 by this point in prison term .
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Fisker has always differentiated itself from other EV startups , though , as it pursued an “ asset light ” job exemplar . It designed the Ocean but outsource the manufacture to Magna Steyr in Austria . That conclusion helped it get cars on the route quicker than some other startups , though it has imperiled the company in other ways . For example , its Ocean SUV is n’t eligible for the full point - of - sale federal EV tax mention because the vehicle is n’t make up in North America .
Ultimately , Fisker said Thursday that it sold just shy of 5,000 Ocean SUVs in 2023 and generated $ 273 million of tax income , after begin shipments in earnest in June . It lose just diffident of $ 761 million across the full year . Magna give rise just over 10,000 Oceans , and Fisker said it hope to embark on shipping those to its new dealer partner so as to give close - term cash . The troupe declined to say on the conference call how many vehicles its initial collaborator have ordered or design to order .
Like many other EV startups that go public by commingle with a especial use acquisition company , Fisker has had a lot of growing nuisance as a public troupe . It had to detain the release of its third quarter 2023 financial results in part because it find weaknesses in its internal financial reportage . Around that time , it also had two different chief accounting officers relinquish .
These problems keep Thursday , as Fisker enjoin it will be late report its full 2023 fiscal upshot . It also bring out it has discovered another material weakness related to its “ taxation and the related Libra sheet accounts . ” As a result , it couched the financial figure it released Thursday as “ preliminary , ” going so far as to append an star to the headline of the press release .
