Fisker Group Inc., an electric vehicle manufacturer, announced Monday the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
In a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, Fisker said its estimated assets are between $500 million and $1 billion. It estimated liabilities are between $100 million and $500 million, with between 200 and 999 creditors.
Fisker is the second electric startup to file for bankruptcy in the last year, the Associated Press reported, as even industry leaders struggle to lure more buyers beyond the early adapters of the technology.
“Fisker has made incredible progress since our founding … making good on our promises to deliver the most sustainable vehicle in the world,” the company said in a release posted to its website. “…Like other companies in the electric vehicle industry, we have faced various market and macroeconomic headwinds that have impacted our ability to operate efficiently.
“After evaluating all options for our business, we determined that proceeding with a sale of our assets under Chapter 11 is the most viable path forward for the company.”
Fisker, based in Manhattan Beach, California, and other startups like Lordstown Motors Corp., sought to take on industry leaders like Tesla Inc. and big automakers in Detroit, which have entered the market aggressively.
Electric vehicles grew only 3.3% to nearly 270,000 during the first three months of this year, far below the 47% growth that fueled record sales and a 7.6% market share last year, according to J.D. Power, the AP reported. The EV share of total U.S. sales fell to 7.15% in the first quarter.
