The man who dreamed of building a car failed again, apparently for good

A month before his birthday, Danish car designer Henrik Fisker (60) was forced to sign a petition filed by the electric carmaker he founded bearing his name for entry into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection against creditors.

After managing to sell less than 10,000 cars in two years of production, despite hitting the road with 63,000 orders, and despite introducing a series of other models, including the cheaper Alaska tender and the planned Pyr crossover,  and having tried at the last moment to sell their design to Japanese Nissan, Pisker joined the tender manufacturer Lordstown and the commercial vehicle manufacturer Arrival this week. A start-up of electric cars trying to recreate Tesla's success in an era of cheap money thanks to SPAC mergers, and significant interest from investors and customers in electric vehicles.

The success of Elon Musk and the Chinese BYD that came out of nowhere on their way to dominating the electric vehicle market left a feeling that in the new era, there is no longer any significance to know-how, tradition, and experience accumulated by old car manufacturers for more than 100 years.

Henrik Fisker, who dreamed of being a car designer ever since he saw a Maserati Bora as a child and shone at BMW, Ford, and Aston Martin back in his 30s, was supposed to be the one to get it right this time, after his previous car company collapsed a decade ago, leading to lawsuits from Aston and even Tesla itself. But after burning through more than a $1 billion  from investors in this round, with an electric crossover that received devastating reviews upon its market launch, it is doubtful if he will succeed in raising money for a third car manufacturer.

Fisker was born and raised in Denmark, and studied transportation design in Switzerland. In 1989, he started working at B.M.W.'s studio, where he designed the electric concept car E1 that marked B.M.W.'s entry into the field, and the Z07, the stunning concept car that became the Z8 two-seater sports car, that combined modern design with elements from the highly esteemed B.M.W 507 from the 50s. In the mid-90s, it was one of the most talked-about sports cars and even appeared armed with missiles in James Bond's "The World Is Not Enough".

He managed to participate in designing B.M.W.'s first crossover, the X5, introduced in 1999, before moving to Ford, which then owned Aston Martin. Fisker was credited with the design of the DB9 and the Vantage, which received praise and awards, although Ian Callum, who was Aston's chief designer before him, later claimed that most of the design work was completed before his arrival.

In 2005, he left Ford, and in 2007 was hired by Tesla to start designing an electric sedan, which later became the Model S. After leaving to establish his first independent company, Fisker Automotive, which introduced the Karma sedan, Tesla sued him claiming he had only worked with them to gather information on electric vehicles so he could produce them himself. An arbitrator ruled that there was no substance to the claims, and he was forced to compensate Fisker with $1.4 million for his expenses.

The electric propulsion was not yet ready, and Fisker launched the Karma with no plug-in propulsion. He managed to raise a $1 billion from investors, including Leonardo DiCaprio, and an additional $528 million from a program of the American government to encourage the production of electric vehicles. But after failing to meet the promised deadlines, the government demanded the money back, and Hurricane Sandy destroyed 300 cars awaiting delivery. In 2013, Fisker resigned from the company, which ultimately collapsed. The Karma finally entered production in a separate company, and some units were even sold in Israel.

In 2016, Fisker founded a new company again, promising to do things differently this time. A small and lean company that will rely on external suppliers for development and production and will operate a cheap digital sales system. A contract was signed with Magna Steyr of Austria, specializing in manufacturing cars for other manufacturers such as BMW, Jaguar, and Mercedes.

His first model, the Ocean, was launched concurrently with Rivian's electric off-road vehicle, but was intended to compete with the Tesla Model Y. The base version, Sport, offered front-wheel drive, 275 horsepower, an 80 kWh battery, and a range of 463 km. The ultra version received an additional electric engine and dual drive, 540 horsepower, a 113 kWh battery, and an official range of 610 km. The most expensive version, Extreme, was upgraded to provide 564 horsepower and an impressive range of 707 km. It also has creative operations like the "California Mode" where all windows, including the rear one, are lowered, and the panoramic roof opens to receive air "like in an open-top car", making it easy to transport surfboards. The price, between $38,000 and $70,000 , was competitive.

Production began in 2022, and last year Fisker managed to unveil an electric tender and a cheaper electric crossover. The company merged with an American SPAC, and at its peak was traded on NASDAQ with a value of $8 billion. It seemed that Fisker was finally able to fulfill his dream and achieve the success he sought.

In 2021, half a year after the IPO, Fisker and his wife, Geeta Gupta Fisker, bought a house in Los Angeles for $22 million, and sold shares of the same value to finance the purchase, which made waves. "You can argue that I could have bought a smaller house, but in the end I thought 'this is my decision and I don't feel guilty about it'", Fisker later said. Geeta Fisker, a professional investment advisor, was his partner in setting up the company and served as its CFO.

It quickly became apparent that the company was in trouble. The executives did not establish a proper sales department, and the accounting department struggled to track financial data and collect debts from customers. The Oushen was an impressive car in its design and technology, but it went into production before development was completed, leaving customers surprised to receive it without the promised adaptive cruise control, with the promise from the executives that they would receive it as a software update later on. The safety systems that were installed in the car were criticized by journalists and customers.

When sales did not meet targets, the executives sent employees from the accounting department to drive around with the car and conduct demonstration trips for customers. The company failed to submit financial reports on time, and fell behind in payments to the supplier Schteir and the engineering company hired to design the Tundra model.

It was also revealed that the electric sedan car presented in a marketing video in 2017, where a passenger was filmed driving slowly in a wind turbine field, was not even equipped with a battery and engine. Employees who had hidden in it simply pushed it with their feet, calling it the "Flintstones car."

The company received regulatory approvals to start selling the Oushen only in February 2023, but failed to sell all 10,000 cars produced for it in the previous year, severely impacting its cash flow. Buyers began canceling orders, and on the other hand, there were those who purchased the car and were not charged at all, like the American consumer magazine Consumer Reports, which purchased one for testing. After months, when they inquired why the check they sent in exchange for it was not deposited, they were informed that it was lost.

At the beginning of the year, the company changed its sales model and signed agreements with sales agencies, and began to engage with Nissan on a joint production of the electric tender and other models. For Nissan, this could have been a significant shortcut in the timelines for entering this important market, with a car that was supposed to be almost ready for serial production. But after examining the company and the product, Nissan said 'no'.

Last month, Magna Steyr announced that it does not foresee the production of Pischner models in its factory ever resuming, laid off 500 employees, and estimated a loss of $400 million from closing operations this year. If Pischner's request for bankruptcy protection is approved, the company will have 120 days to present a restructuring plan and attract new investors to revive operations.

The company estimates its liabilities to be between $500 million and $1 billion, and that it has assets worth a $1 billion. However, most of these assets are unsold cars, which even when offered in recent weeks at $24,000 in a desperate attempt to raise cash, did not attract customer interest. "Like other companies in the electric car industry, we struggled with market headwinds and economic conditions that impacted our ability to operate efficiently," Pischner wrote in the bankruptcy request.

Porsche will remain a symbol of human ambition, the magic in a car, but also a testament to the complexity of car manufacturing today. Despite praise for design, road behavior, and Austrian production quality, Porsche did not balance the failure in software and electronic systems calibration. Porsche had the desirability, but it was not enough against the immature product it delivered to customers. What might have been enough for James Bond does not pass in real life.