Fisker Inc. missed its second quarter production goal due to problems with its suppliers, falling about 600 vehicles short.
The nascent EV maker revealed the shortcoming in a press release announcing its production numbers ahead of its second quarter earnings report coming Aug. 4. It didn’t specify what suppliers had issues or the specific parts or systems they struggled with.
“A few suppliers had challenges ramping to the targeted 2Q levels, as they did not receive components from sub-suppliers in a timely manner,” the company noted in a statement. “The company is focused on working with all suppliers to ramp to the required volumes.”
How much?
The California-based company produced 1,022 units of its Ocean SUV in the quarter ended June, lower than 1,400-1,700 vehicles it had projected. Fisker officials expected to produce more than 1,400 vehicles in early July.
The company built just 55 Fisker Ocean SUVs at the Magna Steyr plant in Graz, Austria in the first quarter. It got on track in June, hitting its targeted assembly rate of 80 vehicles daily. That’s going to translate to 1,400 vehicles for the month of July.
Looking ahead, Fisker is investing in additional battery pack capacity to protect the compressed manufacturing timeline this year and support higher volumes than originally anticipated next year.
The future
The company’s ability to sort through its issues with suppliers bodes well, but there is another issue looming on the horizon: it’s second vehicle, the Pear. The company reached a deal with Foxconn to build the new vehicle at the Lordstown Motors plant in Ohio.
However, Lordstown Motors filed bankruptcy last month and is actively searching for a new buyer.
Additionally, Lordstown’s had a simmering dispute with Foxconn for some time. That dispute has now flared into litigation. At the same time as it filed for reorganization, Lordstown also filed suit against global technology company Hon Hai Technology Group and certain of its affiliates, including Foxconn Ventures Pte Ltd.
The litigation alleges fraud and willful and consistent failure by Foxconn to live up to its commercial and financial commitments to Lordstown.
It’s unclear if the move to sever ties from Foxconn, will force the Taiwanese company to find another location to build the Fisker Pear or if the deal is dead. Fisker officials will likely address that during its earnings call Aug. 4.