Possible Fisker Bankruptcy

[SoCal Rob]

The only bright spot I can see is Magna. Any and practically all of the IP is in-house at Magna, which gives a ray of light for someone to pick up the pieces and gain access to the software. I am thinking an India based company would be a candidate to pick up the pieces...(Tata Motors)

I wrote this in another thread but probably better here…

With Fisker winding down, I think Rivian should see if Magna has the ability to produce the R3 sooner rather than later. If Magna (or another manufacturer) has excess capacity in the U.S. then vehicles would qualify for at least some of the tax credit. Even if produced in Europe, they could build R3 and R3X in limited quantity for the U.S. early adopters willing to pay a higher price and then change to EU-spec R3 & R3X when Rivian has capacity in the U.S. to build domestically. Assuming that Rivian is working towards selling in Europe, of course. Rivian could wrap up the contract production when there is capacity to fulfill all orders for the R3s in-house.

This would probably result in less profit per vehicle for Rivian so not an ideal long-term strategy. I think it could be good for the long-term health of the company: market share and investor confidence would increase by having these vehicles on the road sooner.

I’m not a manufacturing person, so it may be that working with Magna or similar wouldn’t result in an earlier launch in reality.

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[SANZC02]

I wrote this in another thread but probably better here…

With Fisker winding down, I think Rivian should see if Magna has the ability to produce the R3 sooner rather than later. If Magna (or another manufacturer) has excess capacity in the U.S. then vehicles would qualify for at least some of the tax credit. Even if produced in Europe, they could build R3 and R3X in limited quantity for the U.S. early adopters willing to pay a higher price and then change to EU-spec R3 & R3X when Rivian has capacity in the U.S. to build domestically. Assuming that Rivian is working towards selling in Europe, of course. Rivian could wrap up the contract production when there is capacity to fulfill all orders for the R3s in-house.

This would probably result in less profit per vehicle for Rivian so not an ideal long-term strategy. I think it could be good for the long-term health of the company: market share and investor confidence would increase by having these vehicles on the road sooner.

I’m not a manufacturing person, so it may be that working with Magna or similar wouldn’t result in an earlier launch in reality.

I just don’t think it is a viable option. I think they need to finalize all of the R2 pieces and get that tooled up. Rivian learned a good lesson launching 3 vehicles at once with the R1 and EDVs, I think it is best to March forward with the R2/R3 plans as they have and focus on getting the R2 nailed down and delivered on time in mass.

 

[Dark-Fx]

I wrote this in another thread but probably better here…

With Fisker winding down, I think Rivian should see if Magna has the ability to produce the R3 sooner rather than later. If Magna (or another manufacturer) has excess capacity in the U.S. then vehicles would qualify for at least some of the tax credit. Even if produced in Europe, they could build R3 and R3X in limited quantity for the U.S. early adopters willing to pay a higher price and then change to EU-spec R3 & R3X when Rivian has capacity in the U.S. to build domestically. Assuming that Rivian is working towards selling in Europe, of course. Rivian could wrap up the contract production when there is capacity to fulfill all orders for the R3s in-house.

This would probably result in less profit per vehicle for Rivian so not an ideal long-term strategy. I think it could be good for the long-term health of the company: market share and investor confidence would increase by having these vehicles on the road sooner.

I’m not a manufacturing person, so it may be that working with Magna or similar wouldn’t result in an earlier launch in reality.

Magna probably has a small amount of mandated hard points in vehicle design so that they are able to share the line with other vehicles. Would mean needing to incorporate those in the design from the beginning. I don't know that for sure though, some of their body-in-white carts look to be quite complicated.

Videos here under their "360° virtual tour" give a pretty interesting look into their production: https://www.magna.com/products/complete-vehicles/complete-vehicle-manufacturing

 

[SoCal Rob]

I just don’t think it is a viable option. I think they need to finalize all of the R2 pieces and get that tooled up. Rivian learned a good lesson launching 3 vehicles at once with the R1 and EDVs, I think it is best to March forward with the R2/R3 plans as they have and focus on getting the R2 nailed down and delivered on time in mass.

I tend to push the envelope which is why I closed with the possibility that it wouldn’t help.

I understand that the R2 launch is probably accelerated as much as possible but I really think they need to get the R3 twins to market not too far behind the R2. I think the R3 has the potential to become a high-demand vehicle because of the design. While not a retro redesign of a previous model from an existing manufacturer like the Mini or VW New Beetle, it seems to evoke an era without referencing a particular vehicle, like the PT Cruiser did. I think all three of those vehicles had broader appeal than was expected and Rivian could use something with broader appeal.

Plus, getting people into a less expensive product early and upselling to the next product in your lineup can be a pretty effective strategy, assuming that the customer likes the first product and has brand loyalty. A friend of mine bought his first BMW in the early 1990s: a 318, if I recall correctly. When he took it in for scheduled service he was given a 325. He traded up to a 325 and when it was in he was given a low-end 5-series. I think he had 4 or 5 BMWs, always moving up a notch.

 

[zipzag]

With Fisker winding down, I think Rivian should see if Magna has the ability to produce the R3 sooner rather than later. ....

Magna is only viable for a high margin vehicle.

 

[AllInev]

Incorrectly equating Rivian and Fisker, I've got friends and family sending me condolences about my R1T purchase.

Rivian getting R2 into production and becoming profitable is definitely going to be a nail-biter, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

However, I will begin to steel myself for the ups and downs of the next few years as we all wait for the R2 (and perhaps a surprise early release of the R3 family).

 

[NY_Rob]

With regret I canceled my Fisker Alaska reservation today. Supposedly will get $225 back out of my $250 deposit I put down on my Discover card last year. If Fisker doesn't give me the $$ back, I'll protest the charge with Discover.

Henrik Fisker is a talented vehicle designer, but a very poor CEO, and his wife as CFO is even worse. They delivered cars with non-working features, and in many cases non-functional SW with a skeleton service network and no repair parts available.

I was reading on one of the Fisker forums that unfortunate owners who paid $50-$60K for their Fisker Ocean One's can't even get offers on them now on sites like Carvana, etc.. nobody wants them. The Fisker Ocean Extreme, just got a $24K fire-sale price cut on the Fisker website and is now $37K brand new. But, IMO you'd be crazy to put down anything on a Fisker at this point as the deal with Nissan fell through and it looks to be game over for Fisker going forward.

 

[NY_Rob]

Was pleasantly surprised to see a refund of $225 from Fisker Inc on my Discover card account this morning. So, even though the Fisker ship is sinking, there's still time to get small deposits back before she goes completely under.

I feel for the Ocean owners that may have a $60K boat anchor sitting in their driveway soon.

Hopefully this will end Henrik's career as a President/CEO now and forever! The guy is just bad news.

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