Fisker, a competitor of Tesla in the electric vehicle (EV) market, has released the results of a tough quarter featuring lower-than-expected revenue. The bad news didn’t stop there — the company also announced it would slash its annual production target on its Ocean SUV to just 13,000-17,000 cars from its projection of 20,000-23,000 this year.
The Wall Street Journal reports that EV startup Fisker Inc. experienced a significant setback recently based on a weak quarterly financial report and a drastic cut in its production target. The company reported a disheartening third quarter, with figures falling short of analysts’ expectations in both revenue and losses.
Elon Musk (Joe Raedle /Getty)
The California-based EV company delayed its quarterly report to Monday, attributing the shift to the departure of its chief accounting officer in late October. A new chief accounting officer has just started working with Fisker in the past week.
For the third quarter, Fisker posted a net loss of $90.9 million, a stark contrast to analysts’ expectation of a $69.2 million loss. Revenue for the same period was reported at $71.8 million, dramatically lower than the anticipated $143.1 million. These disappointing results led to the company revising its production target to between 13,000 and 17,000 vehicles, a considerable decrease from its initial goal of at least 23,000 vehicles by year’s end.
Following the release of these third-quarter results, Fisker’s shares experienced a roughly 13 percent decline in after-hours trading. Losses widened on Tuesday, as the company’s shares are down more than 22 percent in intraday trading. This downturn is indicative of broader challenges within the EV industry, which currently contends with cooling demand for EVs in the U.S. In response, companies, including Fisker, have been reducing prices and offering discounts to move unsold vehicles. Last month, Fisker lowered the price of its top-end model, the Ocean Extreme, by $7,500 in response to competitive pressures.
Fisker’s journey in the EV market has been fraught with challenges. The company’s only model, the Ocean SUV, faced multiple launch delays in the U.S. due to underestimations in obtaining regulatory approvals. Additionally, Fisker has cut its annual-production forecast twice this year, with the latest target being more than a third below its most recent goal.
Breitbart News previously reported that multiple major companies have been hitting the brakes on EV production:
On Wednesday, Tesla joined General Motors and Ford in being cautious about expanding EV production capacity, with the company’s CEO Elon Musk saying he was worried that higher borrowing costs would prevent potential customers from affording Tesla vehicles, according to a report by Reuters.
“People hesitate to buy a new car if there’s uncertainty in the economy,” Musk reportedly said on a post-earnings call. “I don’t want to be going into top speed into uncertainty.”
Musk also mentioned that he wants to wait and see how the economy goes before ramping up Tesla’s planned factory in Mexico.
Read more at the Wall Street Journal here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.