The cash-strapped US electric car industryStartup Fisker stops production of its Ocean model. Production at contract manufacturer Magna in Austria will be interrupted for six weeks, the company announced on Monday. Fisker previously owed $8.4 million in interest on convertible notes.
The company said it deliberately decided to default in order to gain time for negotiations with investors. There was actually enough money available for the interest. However, the company’s cash balance had dwindled to $120.9 million as of Friday – less than a third of what was available at the end of last year.
New convertible bonds with a volume of up to $150 million, which Fisker sold at a discount to the Polish investment fund CVI Investment, are now expected to bring fresh money into the coffers, according to mandatory documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Fisker is stuck been in financial difficulties for a long time and prepares loudly “Wall Street Journal
“Possible bankruptcy. It is now said that negotiations are currently underway with a car manufacturer about a collaboration. According to insiders, this is Nissan from Japan; It was recently said that an agreement could be signed later this month.
Fisker is among the electric car startups that went public at the start of the decade, many through mergers with special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), which helped accelerate their rollouts. Their rise was due to the hope and enthusiasm of investors that the young electric car companies could one day follow Tesla and gain a foothold in the highly competitive automotive industry.
However, the company, which was founded by the Danish car designer Henrik Fisker, has long been aware that selling the vehicles is proving more difficult than originally planned. Added to this is the cooling demand Electric cars in total.
According to the WSJ, Fisker is said to have had sales of $273 million last year – with debt of more than $1 billion.