Fisker, the electric carmaker that was once considered a potent rival to Tesla, has landed some much needed external capital today. The company announced a $50M round, that would help it bring its ‘Ocean’ all-electric luxury SUV to market by 2022. The roun was funded by Moore Strategic Ventures, LLC, the private investment vehicle of Louis M. Bacon.
Commenting on the launch, CEO Henrik Fisker said, “Since we first showed the car at CES earlier this year, reaction from customers and investors has been extremely positive. We are radically challenging the conventional industry thinking around developing and selling cars and this capital will allow us to execute our planned timeline to start producing vehicles in 2022.”
Additionally, Fisker is also announcing some key executive level hiring, as it readies itself for a 2022 launch. The most crucial of them all being former Volkswagen America VP Burkhard Huhnke, who has joined in as Fisker’s chief technology officer (CTO).
Huhnke comes with an extensive background working for both automakers and technology companies – having served as the former vice president of e-mobility for Volkswagen America and vice president of automotive at chip maker, Synopses. Huhnke will lead Fisker’s R&D activities in Los Angeles as well as the newly established Fisker Innovation Lab in Silicon Valley.
Henrik Fisker himself is no short of a legend. He is the man behind some of the most iconic automotive designs in industry’s history. The legendary automotive designer is behind the designs of Aston Martin V8 Vantage, the iconic DB 9, BMW Z8 among others.
But on company front, things have been the best for Fisker.
He earlier started a spin-off entity named Fisker Automotive that aimed to produce a luxury plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The company’s first vehicle, ‘Fisker Karma’ debuted at the 2008 North American International Auto Show, with deliveries scheduled for 2011. But then challenges started cropping up, both from technical and financial end leading to company’s bankruptcy. China’s Wanxiang Group later purchased Fisker in 2014 and launched a new company called Karma Automotive.
