My Fisker Life

How did I end up buying a car from a bankrupt car company? And Why?

Welcome to my adventures with a 458hp, 360-mile range, 5-passenger, all-electric SUV that no one has heard of. And the story of how one of the great cars of the world would last only 6 months on the market. But now, will live forever in our hearts.

Car Stats

Horsepower: 458 / 564 in boost mode
Drive Mode 0-60: Earth – 5.3 / Fun – 4.5 / Hyper – 3.8
Drive Range: 360 miles / 324 miles (20″ wheel / 22″ wheel)
Curb Weight: 5,363 lbs.
Tow Capacity: 4,000 lbs.
Solar Miles: 1,500 / 663 (proposed / actual)
Software:
Audio: FM radio, Bluetooth, Spotify, TuneIn, iHeart Radio
Video: Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Video
Maps: TomTom with 3D render
Driving: Lane Keep, Cruise Control, Door Open Alert, Traffic Signal Light Recognition
Cost: $70,399 / $28,499 (original reservation / actual purchase)

I’m Chris. And this is my Fisker Ocean One. One of the craziest purchases I’ve ever made. Ill planned, poorly researched and just plain dumb, it turned into a love affair with power, luxury, comfort and Spotify.

First, A Little Background

The story begins with Henrik Fisker, the designer credited with iconic cars like the BMW Z8, Aston Martin’s DB9 and V8 Vantage. Oh yeah, and a little unknown car named the Tesla Model S. Tesla actually sued Fisker in 2009, saying Fisker spent too much time and used Tesla design ideas on Fisker’s own auto design, the Fisker Karma. Tesla lost the lawsuit, leaving Tesla to pay Fisker $1.1m in damages. Small potatoes, as Elon was already worth $1b by that point.

The Fisker Karma was produced with only 322hp from two electric motors driving the wheel. A small 2.0L turbo engine was used to charge the battery, giving it a range of about 230 miles. Hardly stellar numbers for a car costing $100,000, equivalent to about $160,000 in 2025.

Unfortunately, Fisker was hit with the automotive triple threat: Slow sales, supplier bankruptcy, and mother nature. Car sales were sluggish, in January 2012, the battery supplier, A123, was forced into bankruptcy after battery recalls. And finally, in October 2012, Hurricane Sandy wiped out almost 350 cars in storage. That was the nail in the coffin and Fisker closed doors in November 2012 after building just over 2,400 cars.

But fear not, if you like the Karma, you can still buy used ones for $25-40k. Or better yet, buy the new updated version of the Fisker Karma, the Karma Revero, from Wanxiang’s Karma Automotive, the rebranded successor to Fisker, for a mere $125,000. Now with over 536hp, 360 miles of range and a respectable 0-60 in 4.5 seconds.

My Story

Buying the Fisker Ocean One in 2024, after the company was out of business, and with no service in sight, was one of the smartest things I’ve ever done!

In short, I was leasing a Polestar 2, a smallish Volvo-based EV, and its lease was expiring in November 2024. In 2023, I started researching EV’s that were coming to market. I read about the Ocean, saw the photos, and on the website, watched the promo video video of the Solar Orange Ocean driving along sandy trail towards the beach, and fell in love.

You can read about my journey for the purchase, but in a quick launch here, I planned to purchase the lower version of the car to keep inline with a $50k price tag. The Ocean One and Extreme was priced at $69k. The second level was the Ultra at $50k. But then news of the company being in trouble starting coming out at a weekly, and then almost daily basis. And then in March, news of the brake recall came out. The stock dropped, orders cancelled and by June, Fisker officially filed for bankruptcy and Oceans were done.

But in July, news came out that ?American leasing bought about 3,800 cars for $15,000 each. I thought, if I could get one of those, it would be worth the issues. In September, I found Newport Fisker, with about 200 cars. I drove down, drove the car, and drove to the bank, wiring the full $28,000 for the car. One of the craziest decisions I’ve made.

But then again, I’ve never been one to make sane decisions. You see, as an IT Project Manager, and a Gemini, I’m a mischievous little fellow always getting into a bind, just so I can get out of it. But I also have an eye for the finer things in life. And I figured 458hp would get me there pretty damn quick!

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