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Second time’s the charm—or that’s perhaps what Henrik Fisker thought as he launched the eponymous EV maker Fisker Inc. following a failed attempt a few years earlier (called Fisker Automotive).
Now, the critically-acclaimed Danish designer’s company is facing a number of high-stakes situations at once.
California-based Fisker, which listed via a SPAC in 2020, received a notice from the New York Stock Exchange for non-compliance as its stock closed at under $1 on average for 30 trading days consecutively, the company said in a statement last week.
The notice doesn’t immediately result in Fisker’s trading being suspended on the NYSE—but a failure to comply could eventually lead to delisting.
Fisker said it has six months to comply with the stock exchange’s rules once again, and is considering different options, including a reverse stock split, to help with it.
“The company intends to remain listed on the NYSE and is considering all available options to regain compliance with the NYSE’s continued listing standards,” Fisker said in a statement.
Fisker’s stock has plummeted nearly 89% in the last year.
The Ocean SUV maker faced several tailwinds delivering its cars to customers.
Last year, Fisker made just over 10,000 cars, undershooting its initial estimate by over three-quarters and ultimately delivering less than half of the vehicles it manufactured.
To add to mounting pressures, it became the subject of a U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration probe last week after thousands of Fisker’s cars rolled away or moved unprompted in 2023.
Competition, reach and more
The market for EVs has been challenged by greater competition, shrinking cash reserves and higher costs.
Some of these factors have handicapped many startups in the space, including British company Arrival’s U.K. arm which entered administration earlier this month (it was delisted from Nasdaq shortly before).
Fisker’s Ocean SUV has had a tricky path to chart—whether that’s the initial software issues it faced or more recently the review of an influential YouTuber recently calling it the “worst car” he’s ever tested.
Marques Brownlee, also known as MKBHD, said in a video that driving the Fisker Ocean was the “single weirdest automotive reviewing experience.”
There were some positives, he praised the car’s design and “comfortable seating.”
Fisker has had lofty ambitions about scaling up its EV production to an expected 300 SUVs a day.
But the company has slipped well below its targets, TechCrunch reported in January citing internal documents.
The company also delivers SUVs in Europe with the help of its contract manufacturer Magna Steyr in Austria, but it has struggled to see its initial estimates of global EV demand reach fruition.
The company said it would scale down its operations in December to make sure its liquidity stays intact by trimming its production target.
Among its struggles in the U.S. following Ocean’s launch last June has been its difficulty with reaching buyers using its direct-to-consumer sales model.
Fisker decided to drop the approach, famously adopted by the likes of Tesla and Rivian, to set up traditional dealerships instead in the hopes of growing its presence.
A representative at Fisker directed Fortune to its press release when approached for comment.
Bad Karma
Henrik Fisker’s first swing at making cars was through Fisker Automotive, a company that made plug-in hybrid cars and was popular among celebrities including Justin Bieber.
He was a seasoned expert in the field, having worked at the likes of BMW and Aston Martin.
The company filed for bankruptcy in 2013 after its flagship vehicle, Karma, failed during its tests.
Fisker Automotive had managed to raise $1.4 billion from public and private investors since its founding in 2007, Reuters reported.
During its time, the company never made a profit—instead, it lost thousands of dollars on making each car.
With his second rodeo, Henrik’s big pitch for the EV market has been to make it easier for the masses to afford all-electric cars as the current options can price people out of the market, Henrik told The Verge in an interview last January.
In its third-quarter earnings released in November, Fisker Inc.’s revenue was $71.8 million, while its losses for the period totaled $91 million.
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