Fisker declared bankruptcy in Austria, ceasing production

There is a growing significance Fisker is going around the drain, with the Austrian car maker’s division filing for bankruptcy protection overnight.

In a statement, Fisker said its Austrian subsidiary had “voluntarily applied to open a restructuring procedure through self-management”.

Business publications suggest this period of self-management is similar to Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States.

The automaker claims the move will allow Fisker Austria to pay employees, as well as “continue to deliver vehicles to customers to the extent possible, providing service and software updates over the air.”

Earlier this week, Magna Steyr, the Austrian contract manufacturer that builds the Ocean crossover for Fisker, confirmed Automotive news they fired 500 workers at the factory in Graz.

Magna said this is partly because Ocean production has been officially “dormant” since March. The production pause was enacted to allow Fisker to clear remaining inventory of the electric crossover, which recently received a $24,000 ($36,500) price cut.

A quick search of Fisker’s website shows plenty of cars with prices reduced from around $62,000 ($94,200) to around $38,000 ($57,800).

During a recent earnings call, Magna CEO Swamy Kotagiri said: “Our current outlook issued today assumes no more production. [of the Fisker Ocean]”.

A clutch of other cars, incl BMW 5 series, Jaguar E-PaceAnd Jaguar I-Pace will also end production in Graz at the end of 2024.

Fisker and Magna initially planned to build 23,000 Oceans per year. In 2023 Magna has built about 10,000 Oceans.

In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in April, Fisker said it had about $US50 million ($76 million) in cash and had recently missed debt payments. The company warned that it may cease operations within 30 days if it cannot find additional capital or investors.

Fisker also sent “conditional notices” to its US employees saying they could lose their jobs by the end of June if the rescue effort was unsuccessful.

At the end of March, Nissan said withdraw from negotiations to rush in and save Fisker. Under that plan, Nissan will invest $US400 million ($608 million) in Fisker, as well as produce the Fisker Alaska vehicle and a Nissan spinoff at one of its North American plants.

If Fisker as a whole falls into bankruptcy, it would be the second time an automaker founded by auto designer Henrik Fisker has gone bankrupt.

His previous venture, Fisker Automotive, maker of the Karma plug-in hybrid sedan, went bankrupt in 2013 and the company’s assets were sold to Chinese auto supplier Wanxiang, which changed The name of this car is Karma Revero.