Fisker Slashes Workforce in Major Layoff Round
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
Electric vehicle startup Fisker implemented a new round of layoffs on Wednesday across several teams. Multiple employees confirmed that they had abruptly lost access to the company’s email earlier today, although the exact percentage of the workforce affected is not known at the time of writing.
In recent months, the company has faced challenges securing new investments, leading to a production pause with its manufacturing partner Magna and multiple rounds of layoffs.
On Wednesday, one of the employees affected confirmed on LinkedIn by writing, “I just discovered I cannot access my company email, chats, etc. I made it through many rounds of layoffs but this is the end. I want to thank Fisker and everyone I had the pleasure and great fortune to work with.”
Also on Reddit, several employees confirmed the move adding that, this time, the reduction affected the User experience/User interface team, the Technical Training team, Human Resources, and Social Media.
One of the former employees detailed that the focus of the teams has been “survival mode” up until today’s layoffs.
“I’m sure that will continue for the next few weeks until June 28th, but I don’t see anything happening that will keep this ship sailing,” the user added.
In the latest round of layoffs, done last week, the affected teams included IT, Purchasing, and Customer Relations.
In an effort to reduce costs while negotiating a potential buyout deal, Fisker has decided this week to halt direct vehicle sales to customers in states where it lacks dealership locations.
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Previously, U.S. customers could order vehicles directly from Fisker and have them delivered to any state. Now, potential buyers based in states where the EV startup has no dealership partners are displayed with a message saying “Looks like there are no vehicles near you”.
Last Sunday, the company sent an email to its U.S. customers, informing them of the discontinuation of the roadside assistance service. This decision mirrors the earlier announcement to halt the service in Europe earlier this month.
In West Covina, California, where Fisker has dealership partners, around 40 units of the fully electric SUV, available in both Extreme and Ultra variants and starting at $34,999, are currently on display.
This strategy, which significantly lowers operating expenses, requires customers to search for available inventory in states where Fisker has partnered with dealerships.
Last week, Fisker announced a new dealer partner in Denmark, expanding its sales network in Europe while in the U.S. the company added three new dealership locations reaching a total of 15 in the country.
Earlier this week, the city of Dallas has selected Ford’s commercial division in a 10-year agreement to help move the city’s climate goals forward, aiming to electrify the city’s vehicle fleet by 2040.
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Henrik Fisker is set to participate in the Economic Times Auto Tech Summit on June 20-21. Over recent months, the chief executive has remained silent amid company’s critical financial situation as it seeks further investment to avoid bankruptcy.
The 5th edition of the summit will be held at the Sheraton Grand Bengaluru Whitefield Hotel and will cover topics such as software, new manufacturing technologies, cockpit innovations, and sustainable tech.
In a new review of Fisker‘s inaugural production model, the SUV Ocean, TopGear’s Ollie Marriage affirmed on Friday that the car is “arguably better built,” “easier to use,” and offers a “more luxurious” interior compared to the Tesla Model Y.
However, Marriage warned that the startup led by Henrik Fisker is “on a financial knife edge, and might not be here next year/month/week”.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
