American electric vehicle startup Fisker has just secured the court’s approval to offload its remaining 3,300+ Ocean SUVs in bulk sale to a New York-based leasing company.
Fisker seeks to offer remaining Ocean SUVs to American Lease in bulk
Fisker sought the approval of the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware for its plans to sell the remaining 3,321 Ocean SUVs in its inventory on its July 2 filing.
Fisker is looking at potential proceeds of $46.25 million when it succeeds in bulk selling the unsold Ocean SUVs to American Lease amid the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings.
For context, American Lease leases out electric vehicles to drivers for ride-sharing services in New York.
Court’s approval
Fisker contended in the filing that the proposed bulk sale of the remaining Ocean SUVs is critical to sustaining basic expenses such as payroll, taxes, and software provider costs.
Judge Brendan L. Shannon presided over the hearing on Tuesday. He approved Fisker’s request, saying that the company has alleviated the initial concerns of the Office of the US Trustee about the urgency of the sale attempt. Moreover, the deal also reportedly won the support of Fisker’s creditors.
A Fisker-hired lawyer disclosed during the hearing that the troubled EV maker could deliver about 1,000 Ocean SUVs to American Lease by Friday. This initial transaction is expected to yield some $14 million for Fisker.
The company plans to deliver another 500 Fisker Ocean units, worth about $6.7 million, by next week.
Pricing agreement
The terms of the bulk sales deal published earlier this month revealed that American Lease has agreed to buy brand-new Oceans in good working condition for $16,500 per unit. Fisker claims that there are about 2,711 units available for these brand-new Ocean SUVs.
Previously titled units will cost $3,200, while the most damaged units requiring cosmetic or mechanical repairs will cost $2,500. These prices basically offer American Lease an average cost of about $14,000 per Ocean SUV.
In addition, the pricing agreement represents a significant decline from the Fisker Ocean SUV’s original MSRP. For reference, the top-tier variant Ocean Extreme originally had a base price of $61,499. It can further increase to over $70,000 when fully optioned out.
Fisker pledged to provide American Lease access to its proprietary software systems, crucial to maintaining and updating the Ocean SUV fleet.
While Fisker already won Tuesday’s hearing, the Judge overseeing the proposed sale order still needs to give the final order approving the sale. The Judge promised to do so as soon as the company publishes a revised version of the proposal.
