Over 40,000 Customers Reportedly Cancel Their Fisker Ocean Reservations

[ice-capades]

Over 40,000 Customers Reportedly Cancel Their Fisker Ocean Reservations

https://www.autoblog.com/2024/04/02/over-40000-customers-reportedly-cancel-their-fisker-ocean-reservation/

 

 

Fisker's ongoing financial troubles have reportedly scared off a substantial number of the buyers who reserved the electric Ocean crossover with a refundable deposit. The company has lost more than 40,000 reservations that it will need to reimburse, according to a recent report.

 

Citing leaked data and internal metrics, Business Insider wrote that Fisker received between 70 and 80 cancellations per day "in a recent seven-day average." The total number of canceled reservations stands at over 40,000, the report said, which represents a huge chunk of the reported 70,000-plus reservations the firm has collected since it opened the order book in November 2019. Fisker hasn't commented on the report.

 

If this is accurate, the cancellations compound Fisker's problems in several ways. First, the brand's sales forecast has seemingly fallen by over 50%, meaning its revenue forecast has inevitably dropped by the same number. This comes at a time Fisker needs to generate more sales in order to stay afloat; it recently paused production of the Ocean to save money, and it's sitting on a massive inventory of unsold cars.

 

Second, Fisker will need to refund the deposit it collected from every reservation holder who cancels, according to Business Insider and the brand's terms and conditions. It costs $250 to reserve one example of the Ocean and $100 for each additional reservation; both sums are refundable. Fisker keeps the $25 processing fee that's added to every reservation, however. The publication estimates Fisker owes its customer base about $9 million. It adds that "a few thousand" customers have separately canceled an order, though the $5,000 deposit on those isn't fully refundable.

 

It's not far-fetched to assume some of the customers who reportedly canceled a reservation realized they can get a new Ocean right away for much cheaper than initially advertised — Fisker slashed the price of its leftover 2023 models by up to $24,000 in March 2024 to trim its inventory of unsold cars and generate cash. Other customers might have simply lost faith in a company teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.

 

While the Ocean, which is built by Magna in Austria, is the only Fisker model that has reached production, the company has shown three other electric cars that it began taking reservations for and ostensibly planned to sooner or later build. There's a pickup called Alaska, a city car named PEAR, and a four-door convertible known as the Ronin. The company's website notes that buyers can reserve an Alaska or a PEAR for $250 or spend $2,000 reserving a Ronin. In February 2023, the brand claimed it had received about 5,600 reservations for the PEAR. Whether these still stand remains up in the air, but refunding them will further darken the company's financial outlook.

Edited April 3 by ice-capades
Additional Content

[DeluxeStang]

I discussed investing in this company a few weeks ago. Glad I held off 😂.

[ice-capades]

Capitalization is the biggest factor for the upstart BEV manufacturers. Rivian has the best chance for long term growth from what we've seen so far. Even Tesla is under pressure from recent results but has the benefit of a growing and loyal owner body. Chinese manufacturer BYD now poses the biggest threat with their lower cost vehicles. 

[mackinaw]

53 minutes ago, DeluxeStang said:

I discussed investing in this company a few weeks ago. Glad I held off 😂.

 

Me too.

[T-dubz]

I’ve always thought the ocean was one of the most compelling ev options out there. It looks good and has nice features for a reasonable price.

[DeluxeStang]

5 hours ago, T-dubz said:

I’ve always thought the ocean was one of the most compelling ev options out there. It looks good and has nice features for a reasonable price.

It always looked like a fisher price, or should I say Fisker price take on the land Rover evoque to me. 

[T-dubz]

4 hours ago, DeluxeStang said:

It always looked like a fisher price, or should I say Fisker price take on the land Rover evoque to me. 

But look at its competition. The model Y and VW ID4 aren’t exactly lookers. After the mach e and Kia ev9, this is probably the best looking suv ev in the price range, and it offers features more comparable to the much more expensive rivians.

[Andrew L]

I think the Fisker name is cursed 

[akirby]

44 minutes ago, Andrew L said:

I think the Fisker name is cursed 

So Fisker Karma was a really appropriate name?

[Joe771476]

Electric vehicles are all done!

[akirby]

5 hours ago, Joe771476 said:

Electric vehicles are all done!

I guess the 270,000 that bought them first quarter did t get that memo.