Welcome to Fisker
my life with a bankrupt car
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. The car had no history. No warranty. And no company. What could go wrong?
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, he also created the initial design on 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.
Fisker automotive
Our philosophy
our mission
Designing sustainable, high-performance electric vehicles that blend a balanced design of sustainability and cutting edge performance…
- Recycled materials that can be re-used after automotive life
- Cost effective production techniques to produce cars with twice the performance for half the cost
- Uncompromising luxury that is sustainable and obtainable
our vision
- Produce cars through a legacy production partner to insure top quality standards are adhered to
- Introduce market changing practices of sustainability that will have a lasting impact for generations to come
- production of an all electric vehicle of uncompromising performance and luxury for global standards
our values
- Luxury and performance on par with the worlds finest cars
- Development of long range driving technology to deliver the best all-electric experience and remove range anxiety
- Build a car based on a rich heritage of designing the finest high performance luxury automobiles in the world
IMPORTANT MILESTONES
This is why I bought my fisker
horsepower
0
0-60 mph
0
miles range (20" wheels)
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watt ELS stereo
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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.
Originally, 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. They were even planning a Sport model that had small $38k price tag, but also, an equally small range of 250-miles. After test driving one in December of 2023, I thought, nice size, great power, but for $70k?
By February, news of the company being in trouble starting coming out at a weekly, and then almost daily basis. In March, news of the brake recall came out. Then the infamous, “Worse Car Ever Reviewed” video drops, and the stock goes into a free fall, orders cancel and by June, Fisker officially filed for bankruptcy. Fisker Automotive and the Ocean Ones were done.
But in July, news came out that American Leasing, a New York based ride share management company, bought about 3,800 cars for $15,000 each, as part of the bankruptcy settlement.
I thought, if I could get a Fisker for $15k, hell, even $25k, it would be worth the issues. In September 2024, I found Newport Fisker, with about 200 Fisker cars. I drove down. Drove the car. And drove to the bank. I got my Fisker Ocean One, affectionately known as FOO, for the advertised price of $24,999. Out the door for $28k and change. One of the craziest purchases I’ve ever 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!
The car has been amazing. A dream to drive and pretty much trouble free. No service calls needed. I had to replace the door handle inserts on the passenger side, from Uber passengers constantly pressing into the plastic. But this was an original issue from the factory using the wrong light weight plastic.
We have driven the car almost 20k miles in the front 12 months, driving Palm Springs to San Francisco once, several trips to Las Vegas, and monthly trips to Los Angeles. And that’s what I wanted: a car that can go PS to LA, round trip on a single charge, and PS to LV one way on a single charge. And it does so handily, each time, returning home with 40-60 miles range left.
And since I can drive so far, that means I’m charging almost entirely at home, so energy (fuel) costs are a minimum. It costs about $13 to add 250 miles of range to the car. Luxurious range.
Fisker Back History
This is Henrik Fisker’s second go round in building a car under his name. In 2009, he developed the plans for a low-slung sport coupe named Karma. 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 over $100,000, equivalent to about $160,000 in 2025.
The car began deliveries in 2010.
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. Now with over 536hp, 360 miles of range and a respectable 0-60 in 4.5 seconds, and a cost of $125k. And it even stills retains Fisker’s original design ethos, as well as that Tesla S front end.
