Fisker had grand plans to become the next Tesla. The electric vehicle startup touted an Apple-like business model that would allow it to outsource manufacturing while focusing on technology and design. And Fisker actually got its debut vehicle—the sleek, Range Rover-esque Ocean SUV—out to thousands of paying customers, something many EV upstarts die trying to do.
But according to several former Fisker employees who spoke with InsideEVs on the condition of anonymity, the startup was never really ready to sell cars in the first place. Fisker did not plan for a proper stockpile of replacement parts in the U.S. for repairs, for example. The resulting scarcity of parts has sometimes left Ocean owners high and dry when they’ve needed basic fixes. And it’s forced Fisker to source components in unconventional ways, like from disassembled cars, former employees said.
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