The electric car manufacturer Fisker is lowering its production forecast for 2023 once again. After last lowering its forecast to between 13 000 and 17 000 vehicles produced in 2023 as a whole, Fisker now only expects to produce just over 10 000 units.

The reason given for this is the decision to produce fewer vehicles than previously planned in December in order to “prioritize liquidity and free up over 300 million US dollars in working capital, which creates additional business flexibility”.

It is once again a significant drop compared to the last forecast; in August, the company was still talking about 20 000 to 23 000 vehicles, and in May, Fisker assumed it would produce 42 400 Oceans in 2023.

In other words, if production reaches the lower threshold of 13 000 Oceans, this will only be around 30% of the initially planned quantity. In the third quarter of 2023, Fisker produced 4 725 units of its Ocean, its only model to date, at Magna in Austria. In Q2, it had manufactured 1 022 units.

1 097 Fisker Oceans were delivered from July to September, compared to just eleven units in Q2/2023. In October, Fisker delivered 1 200 vehicles, more than in the third quarter.

No ramp-up

In mid-September, Fisker announced that production of the Ocean would be ramped up significantly in the fourth quarter, from 180 to 300 units per day. A further increase was also necessary to reach the 13 000 units.

In the announcement, Fisker stated that 3 123 vehicles had been built. If the production from the second and third quarters are added together, this still results in only 5 747 Ocean that came off the line at Magna in Steyr (Austria). However, with the announced increase to 300 vehicles per day, the new target could still be achieved, provided there were no further delays.

Delivery problems

Now, the bottleneck no longer seems to be production (when the forecast was lowered in August, it was said that a supplier could not ramp up production sufficiently) but rather the company’s delivery and service infrastructure.

“We have not been able to follow through with deliveries fast enough,” said Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker in an interview with media and analysts. “People have paid and are waiting for their cars, and some of them are really getting annoyed.”

According to the CEO, some 65 000 people have already shown interest in the Ocean worldwide. The company is currently hiring 20 to 30 employees per week and gaining more logistics partners to speed up deliveries. However, Fisker also does not want to sit on too much (expensive) stock and wants to cut back production if deliveries are still not fast enough.

Financial obstacles

Fisker’s turnover in the third quarter of 2023 amounted to $ 71,8 million, with a net loss of $ 91 million. The quarterly result and the lowered production forecast caused Fisker’s share price to fall by 14% after the close of trading on Monday.

Fisker initially planned to publish its Q3 figures at the beginning of  November but postponed at short notice. That was due to the departure of the Chief Accounting Officer, who is now accused of deficiencies in accounting and internal control.

According to Fisker, the problems were related to the complex accounting in several countries, which concerned convertible bonds, derivatives, as well as raw material and finished goods inventories in the contract manufacturing of its vehicles. It is hiring experts to fix the problems.

Confidence lost?

Since September, Fisker has been offering its Ocean electric SUV in four additional European countries: Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Deliveries in the new countries were scheduled to begin at the end of September, according to the manufacturer. Fisker is also relying on the direct sales model in these new countries.

Fisker had previously launched in Europe in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the UK, as well as in the US and Canada. The first ‘Ocean’ electric SUV was handed over to a customer in Denmark in early May.

Meanwhile, Fisker is losing the confidence of its first clients or potential clients. Quite a lot of people are looking into the possibility of acquiring a Fisker Ocean, an attractive offer in their eyes, which has generally been confirmed by the few journalists who had the opportunity to drive one.

In Belgium, we’ve been contacted by a series of interested customers who don’t know how to get really in touch with Fisker. Even if they are able to order one, which can only be done online, they have no clue if they can test drive one before the purchase and how the after-sales service will be. That’s not a sound base to start a new (and interesting) brand on.