Fisker did put its entire workforce, all 200 of them, on furlough, “while it continues to search for a strategic partner,” Reuters says. That search is not going so well. And quite possibly, the workforce will never come back.
Then there is the issue of the DOE loan. No, not the matter of the DOE only paying out $193 million of the promised $529. The DOE actually wants money back. There is a loan payment due in late April. The amount was not revealed.
Fisker urgently needs a savior, but those are hard to come by. Dongfeng dropped out of the bidding for Fisker, “because it would be too difficult to move production to China,” Reuters writes. Before, Geely had dropped out, which leaves Fisker with no interested suitor.
According to the story, Dongfeng was interested in Fisker’s barely used production facility, which it wanted to move to China. But soon it transpired that the loan was tied to the plant being in Delaware.
Chinese companies were a bit luckless buying car companies as a going concern. They are, however, good a snapping up the pieces after a bankruptcy. Which also would solve the problem of where the plant is located.
And just as I wanted to hit the “Publish” button, news reaches us that Fisker is looking into that option. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Fisker has hired restructuring lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis LLP to prepare for the possible bankruptcy filing, the people said, though no final decisions have been made on whether the auto maker will need to take that path. The cash-strapped company is still seeking buyers or investors that would help it avoid that outcome, the people said.”
We can always hope.
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