While the enthusiasm around Tesla and Nikola may have helped knock some money loose for Fisker Inc. Chinese EV startup Byton, which has a North American headquarters in Silicon Valley, recently announced it is halting all global operations for six months because of money trouble. Los Angeles-based Faraday Future is still in limbo, though its founder just wrapped up his personal bankruptcy case , and the startup says it will now be able to entertain investors who may have been skittish.
A few lucky ones, like Rivian, Lucid Motors, and Nio were able to nail down big financing rounds before the pandemic. Though in the case of Lucid Motors, the startup had to give up majority control to Saudi Arabia. And in exchange for its own sort of bailout, Nio had to turn to state-owned entities in China.
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Phones Laptops Headphones Cameras. Tablets Smartwatches Speakers Drones. Fisker declined to say who will supply batteries for both vehicles. Subscribe for our daily curated newsletter to receive the latest exclusive Reuters coverage delivered to your inbox. More from Reuters. Sign up for our newsletter Subscribe for our daily curated newsletter to receive the latest exclusive Reuters coverage delivered to your inbox. Repeated delays in the start of Karma production and a drastic curtailment in volume meant that Fisker was paying higher-than-budgeted prices for many components and sub-systems, as well as contractual penalties to suppliers and to Valmet, which built the Karma under contract in Finland.
Fisker eventually delivered about cars to customers in and another 1, in ; it originally planned to sell 15, Karmas a year, starting in late Some of the production delays were caused by last-minute design changes and engineering fixes, insiders said, resulting in additional cost overruns and late shipments of critical components.
Fisker also over-ordered and stockpiled other parts. There was no sales revenue to help offset some of those costs until late This could have been headed off years earlier by putting the exhaust pipe in the back, as is standard, but the idea was struck down. The idea emerged after engineers ordered pizza for lunch one afternoon. The company also pressured its suppliers to meet ambitious deadlines, but was slow to provide the necessary technical information and, in some cases, timely payment.
On more than one occasion, Fisker asked suppliers to hand-build certain components for the Karma, which increased the cost as much as threefold. Considerable sums were used to burnish the image of the company as well as Henrik himself. In May , the company co-sponsored a pre-race grand prix party aboard a foot yacht moored in the Monte Carlo harbor. Guests drank glasses of champagne served with flecks of gold. Instead, he will outsource production in order to save on costs and, most importantly, frustration.
Read More. An electric SUV for the masses. Fisker's last car company made a stylish but impractical and costly plugin hybrid car called the Karma. Occupants sat low in the cabin next to a battery pack running down the center where it impinged on elbow space.
In a review, Consumer Reports trounced the car. Fisker doesn't blame the Karma's design for his first company's failure, instead he blames plain bad luck and problems with parts suppliers. Hurricane Sandy didn't help either, when it wiped out a large number of Karmas that had been sitting, waiting to be delivered, at a port in New Jersey.
Fisker Automotive eventually went bankrupt. This time, though, he's going with a completely different type of vehicle.
The first model from Fisker Inc. Fisker's first vehicle will be the Ocean, a relatively affordable electric SUV. It's a space that's now starting to fill up, though, with entries like the Volkswagen ID.
Fisker argues his vehicle will still stand out, though, with it's more functional, flat-sided body shape and elegant design. The others, he argues, look like hatchback cars, not real SUVs. Where the Karma sacrificed comfort and practicality for style, the Ocean, a roomy looking five-seat SUV with fairly traditional SUV proportions, clearly doesn't.
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