Title: A Desperate Bid to Understand the Fisker Ocean Experience

Imagine spending $70,000 on a newly launched electric vehicle (EV) only to have it turn into a nightmare within weeks. Glitchy software, unfinished features, and a massive price drop are just a few of the issues that new EV owners face. I've recently spent $70,000 on a Fisker Ocean, an incredibly questionable idea, and I'm about to find out what it's like to buy a car from a company teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.

I'm not borrowing a press car for a few days to make a video; instead, I've put my own money down to purchase the Ocean. I want to experience firsthand how bad the product is and what it's like to be one of the thousands of people left holding the bag. We're currently at TheGrove in LA, which houses the only Fisker store I could find.

As I talk about this, I'm starting to realize how dumb what I've decided to do is. How are you doing today?

It's going, and nice to meet you! Austin, it's nice to meet you as well. So, I just stepped out of the Fisker store for a moment, and we had some fans of the channel come by and say hello.

They were excited to see me, and that was a good sign. It means my decision might be seen as reasonable or even relatable by others.

I have to admit, it's been quite a few months since I first mentioned this idea on social media. The more I talk about it, the more I realize how crazy what I'm doing is.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Imagine this, you've justspent $70,000 on a hyped new EV,but within weeks that dreamturns into a nightmare.Glitchy software, unfinished features,and an absolute fire sale,knocking tens of thousandsof dollars off the value ofthe car that you just bought.Marques may have called it theworst car he's ever reviewed,but today it's time to buckle up.I'm going to buy a Fisker Ocean.This I probably don't need to tell you,is an incredibly questionablebordering on terrible idea.Now, I'm not borrowing apress car for a few daysjust to make a video dunking on Fisker.I am putting my own money downto try to purchase an Oceanto really see what the experienceof buying a massivelydiscounted car from a companyteetering on the brinkof bankruptcy is like.More importantly, I wanna seenot only how bad is the Ocean,but really what theexperience is going to befor the thousands of peoplewho are left holding the bag.So we are here in LA at TheGrove, which is the homeof the only Fisker store that I can find.So we are recording here onThursday, so tomorrow is the daythat the deal is official.The more I talk about this,the more I really realizehow dumb what I'm aboutto do is, like. (sighs)How's it going?- It's going, how are you?- Austin, nice to meet you.- Nice to meet you, Austin.- So I just walked out ofthe Fisker store for a secondand we actually had somefans of the channel come byand be like, "Oh hey,you're Austin Evans."And I think the the salesguy going into overdrive nowtrying to show him some extra features,he literally jumped around.- That was very interesting.So they do not sell thecars at the actual store,but the deal goes live tomorrow.And so what's gonna happenis I'm gonna give him a callin the morning and give him my ideal orderand he is gonna try to matchit as close as possiblewith what's going to be in inventorythat importantly isgoing to be discounted.The vibe is very cool, like,it was very quiet in therebesides when I got my cover blown.The car did break twicewhile I was in there though.- I will also say thathe now knows you area YouTuber.- That's true, and if he starts-- So he's gonna give you alittle bit of special treatment.- I can't go like, too incognito.I can't use a fake namewhen buying a vehicle.That sounds like I'mdefinitely gonna get arrested.It is what it is.I am gonna be able to get what I can getand I'm gonna get theexperience as close to normalas possible.The Extreme model, which usedto be 69 grand is now 37.So almost half off, and that'sthe highest end version.So the base model is like, 25.I'll see it tomorrow when we decideon an even worse decision, but I think,I think I'm buying aFisker Ocean. (laughs)At this point in the video,a pretty fair question is,"What exactly is Fisker anyway?"The company went public in 2020,and by 2021 their market capsoared to nearly $8 billion.The future lookedelectric, until it didn't.The last couple of monthsthe wheels have absolutelyfallen off.In late 2023, they were openingflashy flagship showroomsand celebrating finallyshipping the very first Oceansto fulfill their huge pre-order backlog.A massive $463 million loss in 2023 thoughmarks the start of the end.And almost more importantly,the dual gut punches of the endof low interest rates toborrow more money easilyand EV sales stalling outacross the industry big timehas meant that Fisker hasrun into a cash crunch.The stock price has plungedfrom around $6 in Octoberto about 2 cents today.Like you know, two pennies, not good.So I was supposed to jump on a callto place my order 15 minutes agoand I have been completely ghosted.I'm trying to do this.I'm trying to order, I'm tryingto go through the process.Now, the website did update this morning,so it now has a pressrelease basically explainingthat the price cuts are for2023 models and blah blah blah.And that's all fine,but you can't go onlineand order those 2023 models.You can only order a new 2024,which because production has been halted,I don't think those areever going to be built.I'm hoping that maybe I geta call back later in the daybut not looking good.So just as I'm about to give up,I've checked the Fisker siteand they have now listedthe inventory publicly.So you can see that there'sthe Fisker launch edition,which is still the full price.Obviously that doesn't make any sense,but they have Extremes,which is the highest end configuration,which was down from 61,000 to $37,000.And then they have anotherExtreme, another Extreme,actually a lot of, dothey only have Extremes?Wait, are you tellingme they've advertisedthe base model at $24,000 and change?In fact, I can give you the exact price.So reading the pressrelease, the sport trim,which is originally $39,000,is supposed to be availablefor $24,999, which isobviously a great deal.They have zero in stock.Not like, oh a base model with no options,like, zero in stock.So the story is is that theywere massively busy todayand as you might imagine,as you cut 30, 40,50% off the price of the car you sell.But someone did call me back, you know,it's what, almost eight o'clock.So a few hours, six, seven hoursafter we were supposed tochat, but I've got a carthat has my name on it andthey said it'll take a few daysfor them to, it's currentlylocated in San Franciscoso we've gotta like, ship it down.I don't actually know whatI'm paying for this car.The price in the systemstill shows us the original,which I'll explain whichone I got in a second,but I don't actuallyknow how much I'm paying.I have a pretty good idea,but I don't know exactlyhow much.Doubly confirmed, thereare no $24,000 base models.That's not a thing, they don'thave 'em, they're not coming.Certainly not for the 2023 year.That bumps the price up toabout $35,000 for the Ultra.The problem with theUltra is that the Extreme,which is the fully loadedmodel with the solar roofand everything is like, 36, 37,000 bucks,which completely negates in my opinion,the need to get the mid range.They aren't charging extrafor the wheels and the paint.So I ended up getting the mostexpensive wheels and paint.So I got, it was normally a $4,500 optionto get the matte blue,and another like, $2,000for the 22 inch carbon fiber wheels.And apparently that's the same priceas all the other Extremesbecause they don't care.So theoretically I will be the ownerof a brand new Fisker Ocean Extrememaxed out edition for $37,000?And this car yesterday cost68, 69, something like that'cause it has every single option.I mean, that feels like a good deal.I feel like I just got a car for half off.I hope that this ends well.So it is Monday morningand I have some updatesto share with Ken.They have no base modelswhatsoever in inventory, period.- They probably never madea lot of them to begin withand if they were any sold theyprobably don't have any more.- Correct.Here's the weird thing though,they didn't actually like,take any money from my deposit.She just said, "Oh, okay cool,I'm gonna like, put your nameon this and like, someonewill hit you up next weekand then like, we'll figure it out."It'll be here on Thursday, maybe?Wednesday, Thursday, something like that.And then I will at thatpoint have an Ocean.- Alright, cool.You bought a very,yeah, you bought a car.- So a little update for you.So it is currently Wednesday,so it has been six dayssince I first showed upto the Fisker dealership.I am still waiting.So it is Sunday, April 7th,which means that it has beena little over a week since Iplaced my order for the Oceanand I don't have a lot ofupdates on where my car is.So last I heard, I'llbe finding out tomorrow.I was supposed to find outif I was getting the deliveryby Thursday, but it's Sunday.Sure, whatever.I don't think it's reallya surprise to anyonewho's made it this far in the videothat Fisker seemed likethey're a little bitof an operational mess,but the more I've spent this weeklooking at this whole thing,the more it feels likewhile this is a littlebit of an extreme case,they've been a bit ofa mess since day one.You know, you think aboutthese stories where supposedly,or at least allegedly they had lost moneythat people had spent, theydidn't know where it was,they couldn't account for it.Like, I still don't havethe price of the car,I still don't have anykind record of any of thisbesides like, phone calls and emails.Like, I've never gotten like, a VIN,I've never gotten anythingsort of confirmed.So Marques did a second videowhere he talked about the Oceanwith the 2.0 software update.Now software is a huge part of this storyand the 2.0 update doesfix some of the problems.However, there are still a lotof unfinished issues with it.What I'm doing right now,I am not gonna lie to you,I've had some significantsecond thoughts this week.Yesterday I was literally going to sleepand I was just like, "Ishould cancel that order.What am I doing?This is ridiculous."You know, this would be thepoint where I should say,"And that's why I didn't buy it"But I feel like I'm still committed.Like, I still wanna knowhow bad is it really?Is there any silver lining hereand is there any future supportor software updates or whatever?Like, are a bunch ofpeople about to be driving$70,000 paperweights?(suspenseful music)I'm gonna be really honest with you.I want you to hopefullyknow that I went into thiswith every intentionof buying this vehicle.If Fisker as a company had done any numberof 20 different thingsdifferent along this process,I would either have oneor have a signed contractto purchase one at this point.And yet they failed atbasically every opportunity,which is strange for acompany teetering on the edgeof bankruptcy and a companywho desperately needs cashthat I was trying to give them.Throughout this process, Iam actively trying to getthe car, I am emailingthem and following upand following up and I'm just being told,"Oh, I'll check when I get in tomorrow"Or, "Oh, our person who handles thisis out over the weekend,they'll hit you up on Monday."And then it came Tuesday and Wednesdayand now it's just like,so I guess the real update hereis that today I finally got confirmationthat my Ocean was ready.And by confirmation,I mean they emailed meall the documents to fill outto begin the delivery process.But at this point it has been13 days of trying to do thisand the story has gottenworse and worse every day.And to be clear, I can nowstart the delivery process.It's not like the car is ready,I can now start the whole thing over againand wait for who knows how long.If I were to go forwardand sign the paperworkand begin the process, atthis point I would be gettinga car which has depreciatedfurther from when I initiallytried to buy it.So let's not forget that I triedto purchase an OceanExtreme, which had an MSRPof something like $70,000,like 68, 69 grand or something.Now, I was told it's gonnabe, I dunno, 37 or $38,000,which ordinarily seems like a good deal,but because this fire sale has come inand there's so much doubtabout the future of Fisker,prices have dropped even further.Third party dealershipsare selling used Fiskersfor 35, $36,000 with like,a thousand miles or less.And I've talked with somepeople not only who have triedto trade their Fiskers in andwere told either they were notgoing to offer anything on them at all,or maybe get a low balloffer of 15 or $20,000for a car they had just spent$70,000 on a few months ago.It feels like not a, youknow, questionable decision,it feels like an outrightstupid decision for meto give this companywho is actively failinga large pile of my money.Let's not forget, I walkedinto the dealership expectingto purchase a $24,000 vehicle.That is what they had claimedwas the new fire sale.But at the time I was toldthat there were none in stock.And now that I know pretty much for surethat they never have actuallybuilt any of the sport models,I cannot find a single versionof the Fisker Ocean Sportthat was the 24,000 specthat has ever been built.I don't think it exists.I think it was somethingthey were going to make,but I don't think it exists.And if it does, maybe three people have.Like, I still think thatthere's real potentialin the Ocean.I look at the design, Ithink it looks terrific.I look at the range, Ilook at the performance.I even think the tech's not bad.Is it unfinished?Absolutely, but there'sreal potential in the Ocean.But at this point itseems incredibly clearthat while we've seen this fire saleand these cars have absolutelylost a huge amount of value,this is not the bottom.You know, I feel for peopleat Fisker, I'm not tryingto single out anyone, noindividual person I've talked toat Fisker was terrible orrude or anything like that.I wanna be really clear about that.Like, the people that I've talked to,the people I've tried to workwith were not being maliciousor being incompetent, but Ijust get the impression thatas a company that has probablylost a large amount of peopleto playoffs or whatever thecase is, who are operatingwith almost no ideawhat's going on, you know,it just feels like it'sthese constant promises of,"Oh, well, you'll findout this day and that day"And then missing it, and youwould think that a companywho's, you know, desperate for cashand has apparently 50, 60, 70people canceling the ordersa day would be really happywhen someone walks into theirstore and says, "Hey, yes, Iwould like to purchase this.I will buy it right now."Above all, I feel for thepeople who believed in Fisker,who saw the Ocean, put theirdeposits down, spent 60,$70,000 on purchasing the vehicleonly to receive an unfinished buggy messand to have the value of their car,not only slashed inhalf, man at this point,slashed to like, a quarter or a thirdand who knows wherethe bottom actually is.That's the thing that Ithink really sticks with me.You know, the early adoptershave been absolutelyburned in this situation.And Fisker by pushingthis thing out the doorand not having enough moneyin the bank to sort offollow through has completelydestroyed their reputation.Like honestly, if there'sany takeaway from this video,you might be tempted bythe fire sale like I was.Maybe you're not, maybe youhave more sense than I do.I think this experience hasmade it really clear to methat this is the end of the road.Sometimes if it seems to betoo good to be true, it is.Like, almost always.(melancholic music)