** warning - long post ***
The 'competition' will invariably be theoretical as business and econ classes use the comparative business strategies of Tesla and Fisker. Despite what some posts have previously indicated, they were dramatically different, and with dramatically different results in the end. Many future students will discuss the EV version of a tale of two cities. Doug, I agree totally, there are many folks who are pleased with their purchase, and are hopeful that there will be some sort of support system for them as they continue to use their Karmas. I also agree that too much energy was devoted to the Atlantic, but they put themselves in between a rock and a hard place.
On the one hand, you have 2000+ customers awaiting some form of improvement to the multiple sub-systems issues with the car, including production quality issues. These customers were continually angered by the lack of communication between Fisker and the consumer (early adopter), left only to communicate with dealerships who were equally blind to what was really going on. Fisker desperately needed to expand capital expenditures into improving both the ownership experience, and dealership/network relationship, in addition to pushing Visteon to improve the software, Valmet to improve production quality, A123 to improve battery performance, and various other suppliers as well. Granted, Fisker did an admirable job of developing a gorgeous prototype for an effective hybrid platform, it never got developed enough past the prototype phase until recently to merit being worthy of a demanding consumer market. There was simply too much IP and R&D in the hands of suppliers, and poor systems integration at that. That is the Rock...
The Hard place was when Fisker developed the Delaware deal and promised jobs to the politicians and unemployed there. They also promised to use the funding from DOE to develop the plant and start production of the Atlantic. Funding from DOE was mission-critical for them, despite what many Fisker owners were led to believe (due to the degree of private investor funding -- approx. 1 billion or so USD). My belief is that Fisker needed to show some advancement on the Atlantic project so that they could assuage some fears. They poured a ton of CAPEX into that project, though, despite lagging sales in their primary project, Project Karma. A real hard place to be in.
The pinch between the rock and the hard place developed as they lost general consumer confidence due to poor or lackluster reviews, CR most notably, MT second-hand, then lost 2 cars due to fires (the second was totally avoidable, though!), began to lose dealership sponsorship, lost their battery supplier (A123, now B456) during a time when they were trying to launch a massive battery recall, had to recall their cars for the fan issue, lost 300+ cars in Sandy, lost 2 cars to fires and had to weather mounting political criticism all the while struggling to develop a balanced leadership, first with Fisker himself, then with LaSorda, then with Posawatz. Dealerships dropped the label and refused to support the car, production had to stop as they likely had to divert funding to keep the brain and heart pumping, plus, where the heck would they get the batteries from? Need funding to develop an alternate supply of batteries from a different supplier! No sales = massive hemorrhage of cash and reserves. This led to desperate attempts to find a life support system and cash infusion vis a vis Geely, DongFeng, or Wanxieng. Neither bit, due to restrictions, inability to escape the loan liability or access the additional funding, and a host of other factors I may never know. Of course, when the namesake and lead designer to your company leaves you in the dust, it doesn't bode well for negotiations! Last hope gone, biding time to see if anyone else would step up to the plate, the furloughs began, but that was just poor strategy. It would never suffice to keep the company afloat, leading to immediate lay-offs (possibly illegally!). I wonder if the BK attorneys advised them to do this? Who knows...
Now, you have 20 some-odd executives posting up for the big sell off. Where can Fisker go from here??
Well, some companies (likely the Chinese) can dissect Fisker assets after Chapter 7 BK occurs, the company could enter Ch. 11 BK and attempt to restructure and develop a payment plan to save face, but that requires some form of income which does not exist as of yet. Perhaps Warren Buffet with his BYD connection will step in to fund things (unlikely). In the end, it's a crying shame. As crazy as this sounds...Tesla needed Fisker. Fisker needs Tesla. They both justify the continued expansion of the EV cause, infrastructure, consumer mindset and general hope for the future. They were the only real foragers in an oil field, looking for a little green to poke through, and now, one has just starved itself to death.
