That number comes from “internal financial statements and interviews with former Fisker executives,” Reuters reports, quoting a former executive saying the luxury plug-in hybrid, “cost far more to produce than we could ever charge for it.” All told, between 2008 and 2012, Reuters estimates Fisker lost $1 billion.
The losses were due, in part, to those many production delays two to three years ago as well as a reduction in the number of cars it was going to make and sell. Remember when the company said it would sell 15,000 units a year? Eventually, the company sold around 2,000 vehicles, total.
There is a lot worth reading in the source article, including how the Karma’s forward-placed exhaust – which hurt the vehicle’s performance and was too loud – was fixed using a metal “pizza box” that cost millions extra. Throw in salaries of around $600,000-$700,000 for co-founders Henrik Fisker and Barny Koehler, even while Fisker was laying people off, and you have a recipe for not succeeding. Here’s a taste of what Reuters has to offer:
In May 2011, the company co-sponsored a pre-race grand prix party aboard a 146-foot yacht moored in the Monte Carlo harbor. Guests drank glasses of champagne served with flecks of gold. Clad in a dark pinstripe suit and open-neck white shirt, Henrik Fisker navigated a crowd that included Prince Albert of Monaco, whom he described as the inspiration for the Karma. … The Monaco weekend, according to several sources familiar with the event, cost Fisker between $80,000 and $100,000. That wasn’t lavish by auto-marketing standards, but by this point every penny mattered. Within weeks, the Energy Department stopped payments on its loan.
You can read the whole thing here.
