The Austrian arm of troubled EV maker Fisker has filed for reorganization, the company said in a statement yesterday. The decision comes after Magna Steyr, the Austrian contract manufacturer that built the Ocean EV, idled the production of Fisker’s sole vehicle earlier this week.
Fisker Austria “has voluntarily filed to open a restructuring proceeding via self-administration under the Austrian Insolvency Code,” the automaker said in its statement, adding that the proceeding will enable the Austrian entity “to ensure its operations are able to continue under court protection, including paying employees and selling vehicles.” The development was first reported by Germany's Automobilwoche.
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Fisker troubles
Fisker's troubles began earlier this year when its inventory of Ocean EVs swelled to over 4,000. In March, the California-based company paused production, while the latest 10-K form filed with the SEC last month said it had roughly $50 million left.
The reorganization is roughly equivalent to filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States, a move that the company said it would pursue if additional funding is not secured. In the latest 10-K form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, Fisker said it had roughly $50 million left in the bank.
Last year, the Henrik Fisker-led EV startup burned through roughly $70 million per month on average. If the spending remains unchanged, simple maths tells us that the company will run out of money by the end of May.
“A self-administered restructuring proceeding allows Fisker Austria to protect its business while it conducts a value-maximizing strategic transaction or other sale of assets,” the firm said in its statement from yesterday, adding that the company’s other entities are not included in the Austrian restructuring proceedings and operate normally.
“Fisker Austria intends to continue delivering its vehicles to customers to the extent possible, providing service, and updating its over-the-air software as it moves through the restructuring proceedings,” the European arm of the California-based company said in the statement.
Magna Steyr, a division of Canada-based Magna International, has built roughly 11,000 Ocean EVs for Fisker since starting production at its Graz, Austria factory in November 2022. Originally, Fisker planned on building 20,000 to 23,000 Ocean crossovers per year, but production was halted in March as the inventory swelled to almost 5,000 cars.
Fisker's approach to building EVs was called "asset-light" by the company, meaning that at least initially, it planned to lean on outside, contracted factories to build its cars. In theory, Fisker said that would keep overall costs and capital expenditures down so it could focus on design, technology and the customer experience. (Unfortunately, the latter has not been great as of late for Fisker owners, according to accounts given to InsideEVs.)
The same Magna Steyr factory assembles the BMW 5 Series, Jaguar I-Pace, Jaguar E-Pace, BMW Z4, Toyota Supra and Mercedes-Benz G-Class. However, the discontinuation of multiple models by the end of the year prompted Magna to lay off 500 people as it prepares for tough times. “The next three years will be very difficult in Graz,” Magna Steyr CEO Roland Prettner said for the Kleine Zeitung newspaper, quoted by Automotive News.
