Watch Tom “the Biz Doc” Ellsworth tell the story of electric vehicle company Fisker and give a great overarching lesson in this episode of the Biz Doc podcast.
Named after co-founder Henrik Fisker, the company was started in 2007. The first vehicle launched was the Karma, a high-end electric car.
The company went bankrupt in 2013 and sold off its assets to a third party in 2014.
Not deterred, in 2016 Henrik founded Fisker Inc. with the slogan “Beauty, functionality, and advanced technology.”
Its first car was the Ocean, a mid-size crossover SUV: good-looking, room for four, and could go 0 to 60mph in 4 seconds.
Fisker said he was going into the second company with lessons learned from the first. What did he do differently? He took a different approach to outsourcing, for one.
Magna Steyr, an Austrian contract manufacturer for EVs, agreed to a deal with Henrik in return for 6 percent of Fisker equity. This way, Fisker didn’t have to build his own factories.
Second thing was technology. The Ocean’s solar panel roof acted as a range extender, giving an extra 1,000 free miles per year.
Third change was to the raising of capital. In 2020, Fisker did their IPO without the help of a bank-led roadshow. Instead, they launched with Apollo Global as a Special Purpose Acquisition Company or SPAC, rolling onto the market in a simple conversion to public. They went public with $10 a share, reached a peak of $30 a share ($10 billion market cap) in early 2021, and now rest around $6 currently with a $2.1 billion market cap.
Their growth slowed down because of COVID supply chains issues. But it looks like that downturn will change.
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On Jan. 1, 2023, Fisker announced it had 63,000 preorders. On May 5th, the first Ocean was delivered to a consumer in Denmark. On June 1st, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed that the Fisker Ocean would have a range of 360 miles, the farthest of any EV under $200,000.
By June 23rd, 22 oceans were delivered in the U.S. By September 4th, 3,100 Oceans were delivered. On October 1st, they said the 5000th Ocean had been produced. That means they got up to nearly 100 a day due to the high demand.
By October 10th, just several days ago, production increased to 300 Oceans per day. They are booming.
But Fisker is ambitious, and has even bigger plans. By Q1 2025, Fisker plans to have access to all Tesla charging stations in America following a deal they made with the company. Simultaneously, they plan to release the Alaska, a pickup truck starting at $45,400.
In Q3 2025, they plan to release the Pear, a crossover starting at $29,900, useful in suburbs and cities.
Then, in the second half of 2025, they will release the Ronin, a GT Cabrio supercar starting at $385,000. They plan to only create 999, making it exclusive and highly coveted. It will actually be a four-door car and will seat five. And it will have 1,000 horsepower.
Biz Doc’s Lesson: Sometimes bankruptcy simply means starting over. It doesn’t mean the company or the dream is dead, it just means you need to re-negotiate loans and give yourself a chance for redemption. True failure would be giving up on an idea that has traction. If you have a good idea and you just can’t find the customers or the product, you may just need to push harder for a little longer to make it work.
Watch Tom unbox and show off his brand new Ocean at the end of the video!
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