Fisker will exit direct sales and rely on dealers for all sales, service

LAS VEGAS — Fisker is abandoning its plan to deliver vehicles directly to customers and will transition to franchised dealerships starting this year.

The company already announced its intention to sign 50 dealers by midyear, but that is just the start of the move that will take the electric vehicle startup out of the vehicle distribution and service business, Henrik Fisker told Automotive News on the sidelines of CES.

Fisker said he will attend the National Automobile Dealers Association convention here next month and personally make the pitch to dealers to sell the Ocean crossover. He said that franchised dealers will also get future products currently under development, including a small $30,000 EV called the Pear and the Alaska, an electric midsize pickup.

Fisker dealers would be required to provide a separate area for the Ocean and buy signage and tools and pay for technician training. "When the consumer comes in to see that car, we want that to be separate," he said. But they could share service and back-office functions with other brands. "We want it to be a low-cost entry for dealers," Fisker said.

The plan to sell through dealers is a complete reversal of the Fisker's original direct sales strategy. The company has struggled to deliver vehicles ever since sales started last year.

"I discovered that in this current situation, with high interest rates, [expensive] real estate, and getting people trained is much more difficult. I think we just went that route because everyone does when you are a startup," Fisker said. "I went to my accounting department and asked what is the cost of selling a car? We decided we would rather give that money to a dealer so that we could expand faster."

Fisker said the decision to offer dealers franchises is based in part on how fast the company can expand with dealers or without, and where the customer base is for EV adopters and Fisker's current customers.

"We are looking for multibrand dealer groups that are owned by someone who can make quick decisions," Fisker said, describing the type of dealers he is looking for. He would not give a total number of dealers the company wants to sign but said: "The only thing we will keep is our lounges. In the U.S., we will go to complete dealer [representation]."

The Lounges, he said, would be used for dealer support and brand building.

Fisker said the Alaska pickup will be shown this year, possibly at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November.