Inside Henrik Fisker's second failed automotive startup

Fisker's staff was in chaos as they prepared to deliver the company's first batch of electric cars to U.S. customers. It had been four years since famed automotive designer Henrik Fisker unveiled his Tesla rival, an SUV called the Ocean, and the vehicle still wasn't ready.

When TechCrunch previously reported the incident with Gruel's car, the publication said the company had confirmed the incident and said the issue was fixed. For his part, Henrik said he planned to do things differently this time. He would follow Apple's model by outsourcing production through Magna International and he also aimed to target the middle of the market with a more affordable EV option that could compete with Tesla's best-selling Model Y. Fisker Inc emerged in 2016 and went public in 2020 via a SPAC backed by Apollo Global Management. At one point, the company's market value soared as high as $8 billion.

Workers say husband and wife mismanaged their way into a mess Many of Fisker's woes can be traced back to the husband-wife duo who launched the brand, multiple former and current workers told BI. 49-year-old Gupta-Fisker quickly became known in the company for her shrewd cost-cutting abilities. But, her strategy meant that at times Fisker ended up using components that didn't match the correct specifications for the Ocean, five former and current workers said. Gupta-Fisker made several decisions to use cheaper parts against Fisker executive and Magana executives' advice, two workers said. The mismatches led to issues with over-the-air updates, the five workers said.

Ahead of the release, Fisker engineers were aware of multiple issues with the vehicle, according to five current and former workers, as well as internal documents viewed by Business Insider. Engineers had identified issues with the effectiveness of the car's door handles, key fobs, and seat sensors. Without a proper system to process warranties or repair orders, the majority of repairs went unaccounted for, seven current and former workers said. That meant there wasn't an adequate way for Fisker to keep track of which parts were being used for repairs for its own financial records. It also meant many customers did not get a record of their repairs, workers said.

Source: News Formal (newsformal.com)

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