California-based electric vehicle startup Fisker cut its annual production guidance in an effort to free up $300 million in working capital, the company said in a trading update on Friday.
Fisker said it expects to produce about 10,000 vehicles this year. The decision comes less than a month since Fisker lowered its production target to between 13,000 and 17,000 vehicles by 2023. The production guidance is just a quarter of Fisker's bullish forecast from a year ago. In November 2022, Fisker said it planned to produce 42,400 Ocean SUVs by the end of 2023 due to strong demand in the United States and Europe. That optimistic projection was slashed in May to 32,000-36,000 vehicles and then reduced again in August to 20,000-23,000 vehicles. This latest update makes four reductions since the spring.
The production cut will allow the company to access $300 million in working capital, which will give it “flexibility,” according to the business update.
“Our teams have worked hard to overcome some initial delivery challenges and are now setting impressive pace as we prepare to close out 2023,” President and CEO Henrik Fisker said in a statement. “We may not have met our original forecast, but given current market conditions and negative sentiments around EV sales, I would say we are doing quite well as we continue to accelerate sales and deliveries.” . This is generating considerable revenue as we ramp up our business. I expect that by the end of this year we will have delivered more cars to our customers than any Western EV startup in its first year of deliveries. “The company continues to sharpen its focus on growing its current markets and enhancing our sales and service offerings for Fisker Ocean.”
Fisker said in your business update which also launched a new strategy to improve deliveries in the US and Europe, which helped it overcome the first logistical obstacles. While Fisker didn't elaborate on what exactly those challenges were, it appears the strategy involves adding more transportation logistics companies to speed up deliveries, increase reach to reservation holders, and open more facilities dedicated to retail, deliveries. and the service.
The company said it is also launching a leasing program in the U.S., Canada and Europe, but did not include details on when that might happen.
Fisker also provided an update on the hiring, especially on Dan Quirk as his new executive vice president of finance and accounting. The hire comes after Fisker lost two chief accounting officers in short succession and delayed filing its quarterly earnings report with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Other hires include Axel Buhr as vice president of finance and control operations, Ram Iyer as senior vice president of EE integration and validation, and Wolfgang Hoffmann as country manager in Canada, where Fisker is about to begin deliveries.
