Fisker’s Latest Earnings Report Points to an Uncertain Future

Whether you’re building cars, wearables or apparel, the life of a startup abounds with challenges. This week, EV manufacturer Fisker provided an illustration of that very principle when they released their results for Q4 and the 2023 financial year as a whole. What does the overall mood look like? Well, one of the section headers is “Substantial Doubt About Fisker’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern” — and that’s from something the company itself released.

The release of the 2024 Fisker Ocean has been met with mixed reviews — Car & Driver‘s was generally positive, while Road & Track‘s was not. In this latest financial statement, the company expanded on its decision to change direction from a direct-to-consumer model to a more traditional dealer-based system.

“While we transition to the Dealer Partner model, our sales execution has been negatively impacted,” said CEO Henrik Fisker in a statement. “However, we believe we are beginning to see the benefits of the Dealer Partner model as dealers have the potential to order more cars than we would have been able to sell to customers. We still must prove that this model works, as it goes against the approach taken by other independent EV start-ups.”

The other big takeaway from the earnings report was Fisker’s allusion to a potential partnership with a more established automaker. “Fisker is in negotiations with a large automaker for a potential transaction which could include an investment in Fisker, joint development of one or more electric vehicle platforms, and North America manufacturing,” Henrik Fisker said in the announcement.

The automaker notes in its announcement that it’s banking a lot on its dealer model working out. The earnings report mentions the possibility of the company seeking additional funding elsewhere — and that being unable to do so could result in the company investing less in product development, laying off employees and making fewer Oceans. 2024 looks to be a decisive year for the company — but how that plays out remains to be seen.