Fisker seeks judge's approval to sell Ocean SUVs at $14,000 per unit

04 July 2024 - 09:12 By Reuters
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The EV startup, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month, faced logistics issues while selling its Ocean electric SUVs and pivoted to a dealer-partner model earlier this year after burning through a large amount of cash.
The EV startup, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month, faced logistics issues while selling its Ocean electric SUVs and pivoted to a dealer-partner model earlier this year after burning through a large amount of cash.
Image: Supplied

Fisker has asked a bankruptcy judge overseeing its Chapter 11 proceedings to approve the sale of more than 3,000 Ocean electric SUVs in its inventory for about $14,000 (about R258,090) per car to a vehicle-leasing company.

Following the judge's nod, Fisker will be able to offload 3,321 electric vehicles to New York-based American Lease for $46.25m (R852.3m), according to a court filing on Tuesday.

The EV start-up, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month, faced logistics issues while selling its Ocean electric SUVs and pivoted to a dealer-partner model earlier this year after burning through a large amount of cash.

Some variants of its Ocean SUV were priced at around $70,000 (R1.29m) and through its descent into bankruptcy, it cut prices of the cheapest variant to about $25,000 (about R460,708) to raise capital to meet debt obligations.

On May 30, two weeks before Fisker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, American Lease agreed to buy 2,100 Ocean EVs and a month later increased that offer to buy all 3,321 Oceans that were ready for sale.

American Lease serves ride share drivers in and around New York City, providing a fleet of cars on lease or rent. New York City last year mandated the transition of the city's rideshare fleet to either zero-emission vehicles or wheelchair accessible vehicles by 2030.


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