[RahulNagaraj]

According to reports, American EV maker, Fisker has filed for bankruptcy protection in the district of Delaware. The announcement comes amidst a troubling few months for the company, facing depleting funds. The company in a statement said that it has assets worth $500 million to $1 billion, against liabilities between $100 million to $500 million.



A spokesperson for the brand stated, "Fisker has made incredible progress since our founding, bringing the Ocean SUV to market twice as fast as expected in the auto industry and making good on our promises to deliver the most sustainable vehicle in the world. We are proud of our achievements, and we have put thousands of Fisker Ocean SUVs in customers' hands in both North American and Europe. But like other companies in the electric vehicle industry, we have faced various market and macroeconomic headwinds that have impacted our ability to operate efficiently. After evaluating all options for our business, we determined that proceeding with a sale of our assets under Chapter 11 is the most viable path forward for the company."

Fisker launched the Ocean EV last year and delivered 4,929 vehicles. However, the production of the Ocean stopped in March this year, with no plans to resume anytime soon. Over the past few months, Fisker has been in the news for dropping prices of its Ocean EV, reducing its base price from $38,999 to $24,999. The EV maker has also been laying off various departments in order to reduce costs.

The EV maker was also in talks with other automakers looking for either a cash infusion or a buyout. Nissan was said to be high on the list for a buyout, however, the tie-up didn't go through.

This is the second time "Fisker" has filed for bankruptcy. The last time was in 2013, when the original company, Fisker Automotive, founded by Henrik Fisker was sold to a Chinese auto parts supplier Wanxiang Group. The Fisker Automotive was behind models like the Fisker Karma, while the Karma is still on sale, it is sold under a different company name.

Source: Car&Bike

Link to Team-BHP news

[SchnelleKurven]

Seemed inevitable. Adding some more context on Fisker.

MKBHD put out a great video explaining that it is not bad reviews that kill companies, but bad products.

His controversial review of the Fisker Ocean 1.0

https://youtu.be/6xWXRk3yaSw?feature=shared

His review of the Fisker Ocean 2.0 post the software update:

https://youtu.be/mZ9Q2dRQkh4?feature=shared

When accused of bankrupting the company, his commentary on the controversy:

https://youtu.be/QztFpzKsdeA?feature=shared

[arcanec]

Originally Posted by SchnelleKurven

MKBHD put out a great video explaining that it is not bad reviews that kill companies, but bad products.

I take umbrage with that statement. While a bad review may not in itself kill a company, they can lead to a death spiral. Especially if those come from people with large reach like mkbhd. You could make the greatest product on the planet, but if people refuse to pick it up, your company is dead in the water. Marketing exists for a reason

Content creators don't exist to give unbiased reviews. Content creators exist to grab eyeballs. This can have a snowballing effect. If one person's review slamming a product gathers steam, you'll see a bunch of copycat content appear on platforms echoing the same even if they don't necessarily carry that belief. As he himself says in his clarification video, enthusiasts watch those videos even if they're not in the market for the product. Those enthusiasts are, in turn, local influencers within their own spheres. Net effect is even someone who hasn't watched an MKBHD video bashing the Humane AI pin or the Fisker Ocean now believes it's a garbage product and wouldn't even consider it. I'm not saying it is or isn't a bad product, merely that these sorts of videos can in fact cause a company, more so one that's new to the market, to go into an often terminal spiral.

This also brings into question the neutrality of reviewers. While they all claim to be unbiased, companies do plenty and more to subtly nudge them into playing nice. This is fairly prominent in the Indian tech review scenes, I imagine auto giants with their deep pockets could do the same.

[14000rpm]

Originally Posted by SchnelleKurven

MKBHD put out a great video explaining that it is not bad reviews that kill companies, but bad products.

As far as the Fisker Ocean goes, I agree that it is a Bad Product situation. I have seen it personally very closely in Germany and posted about the same in this forum.

The products were shipped out half-done and relied on OTA/Service center fix to address the issue.

This is where the immature Service Backbone hurt Fisker further. I was really rooting for Fisker to emerge successful after the Fisker Karma debacle but alas that was not the case.

Guess Henrik Fisker is good at Styling but bad at product Design as a whole.