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Auto startups chasing Tesla race past red flags to go public

Missed out on the Tesla rally but still want to surf the electric vehicle wave? A stream of EV-related startups backed by blank-check firms is lining up to go public so there are plenty of choices. But like Tesla in the early days, few have products ready to sell or any likelihood of generating significant revenue anytime soon. Instead, investors will be relying on rosy production, sales and revenue forecasts for new cars, trucks and batteries, all set to be jostling for a slice of markets that will be far more crowded than when Tesla's cars first hit the road. Take Fisker Inc, for example. It was launched in 2016, just three years after the bankruptcy of its predecessor and early Tesla rival Fisker Automobile. In July, Fisker Inc announced a $2.9 billion reverse merger deal with Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp, a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), and is planning to go public later this year. It has no revenue and its Fisker Ocean electric sports-utility vehicle (SUV) is at least two years away from production in a project heavily dependent on nailing down deals with partners who will build the car and provide key components. That's not particularly unique for young companies in the sector looking to use SPACs to go public and bypass the scrutiny of a traditional IPO process, according to company presentations and interviews with executives and investors. That also didn't seem to be an issue earlier this year when U.S. electric truck maker Nikola Motors used a SPAC to go public. Shares in the company that hopes to generate revenue next year almost trebled after listing on the Nasdaq exchange. But they slumped when a short-seller questioned whether founder Trevor Milton had made false claims about Nikola's technology, forcing the 38-year-old entrepreneur to step down as executive chairman — and making some investors more cautious. Nikola and Milton have publicly rejected the accusations and have threatened to take legal action against the short-seller, Hindenberg Research. "Good storytelling is an important component of being a good founder and entrepreneur — but it better not be the only component," says Evangelos Simoudis, managing partner and founder of startup investor Synapse Partners. 'IT'S A FORECAST' Fisker Inc's founder Henrik Fisker is well known in the industry for designing sports cars such as Aston Martin's Vantage, and for his failed EV firm Fisker Automobile that went bust in 2013 after burning through more than $1 billion.

Henrik Fisker teases more images of Emotion luxury electric vehicle

Is Henrik Fisker's new electric vehicle ready for its close-up? Apparently, the founder of the eponymous and dearly-departed extended-range plug-in maker thinks so. Fisker, whose new company is working on a model called the EMotion (get it?), has done away with his back-lit teaser photos, and has posted a couple clear images highlighting the EV's lines and features. Mr. Fisker's tweets reveal a side view of a model that appears to be a less-swoopy version of the Karma, the extended-range plug-in that was produced by his former company. An image of the front, which is notably without a grille and includes adaptive LED headlights, shows a car with what one may perceive as a mean-looking smile. Fisker Inc. has promised an electric vehicle with a 400-mile single-charge range from a battery that's being developed at UCLA. Mr. Fisker also adds in one of his tweets that "Fisker vehicles will always have a strong emotional connection to its owner." Not to mention "Superb rear legroom." As it is, the four-door is already notable because it is slated to include dihedral (also known as "butterfly") doors. Hopefully, they will work a little better than the falcon-wing doors that have been problematic for the Tesla Model X SUV. Whether Mr. Fisker will have better luck this time around remains to be seen. The former Fisker Automotive made a model that attracted buyers such as Leonardo DiCaprio and CeeLo Green. That company went bankrupt in 2013, and its assets were acquired by China-based Wanxiang. What's now known as Karma is preparing to start selling its own four-door plug-in called the Revero. That model will have an MSRP of $130,000 and will be able to go as far as 50 miles on electricity alone before the on-board gas-powered generator kicks in. Related Video: Featured Gallery Fisker Emotion News Source: Henrik Fisker/TwitterImage Credit: Henrik Fisker/Twitter Green Fisker Electric Hybrid Henrik Fisker

Wanxiang approved to build new Karma, Atlantic EVs in China

Ever since buying the remnants of Fisker back in 2014, Wanxiang's plan has always included building new vehicles in China. We're one step closer to that, with the approval this month of Wanxiang's request to build electric vehicles in the country. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) says Wanxiang can build a new factory that can make up to 50,000 EVs a year. As we noted back in August, the new Karma Automotive factory will not only build the revived model that used to be known as the Fisker Karma (now the Karma Revero) but also the never-made Atlantic. The Atlantic did exist in concept form in 2012, but Wanxiang's new factory might make it real. This makes sense, since the Valmet machines that built the Karma the first time around have been shipped from Finland to California for Wanxiang's new plant there. When Wanxiang relaunched the Karma website in 2014, it did so with the slogan, "Hello Future. Meet the Atlantic." Maybe it should have said, "Hello China," instead. Related Video: Featured Gallery Fisker Atlantic News Source: Reuters Government/Legal Green Plants/Manufacturing Fisker Electric Hybrid wanxiang karma revero