Production Date Fixed -- Finally

[Soflauthor]

My dealer (Fisker of Palm Beach) just called to tell me that the production date for my Karma is August 31st. He further indicated that production time is 3 - 5 days in the factory and another month in transit. That means delivery on or about October 1st, assuming any of this is accurate.

Has anyone else gotten a hard production date from their dealer?

BTW, my number of 737 on the list so if you're lower, delivery should be sooner.

[brian]

October!?! Sheeezz.... I figured that anything less than 1000 should be the end of July or very early August considering Fisker originally said they'd have all 3000 preorders "fulfilled by October". I'm #659, so I might get mine a week before yours, but still, I was hoping for end of July... guess I've gotta wait until fall.

-Brian

[kabalah70]

I am Signature Edition #51 and I was told my car would be at the dealership in August in the last update a few days ago.

[brian]

I think what is to be learned from all of this is that any numbers that come from Fisker are total B.S. They've been saying that customers would start receiving cars in June or July, but obviously if you're #51 then that's not happening. They've also been saying all 3000 pre-orders would be fulfilled by October, and that's obviously not happening.

I just hope that all of the important numbers like the battery range and fuel range end up being true. If so, it'd be the first honest numbers from Fisker, so I'm a bit skeptical at this point. If the car ends up with just a 30 mile battery range it wouldn't surprise me one bit.

-Brian

[BillyO]

I agree. If it takes until the end of August to get to 750 cars or even 1000 considering dealer demos etc. and production began on March 21st, that equates to around 200 a month. If a Signature Edition in the 50's is not completed by mid-July, that would indicate even slower production especially considering Signature cars all have the same exterior and interior scheme. To get from 50 in mid July to 750 by the end of August sounds a little unlikely at that rate. All of these are projections anyway. There are some numbers that have already been absolutely quantified. After 2 months,they know what the current production rate is.They know how many orders have been sent to the factory. They just won't share that information with us.

[Hokiebird]

I hate to tell you all this, but I was told this week that the earliest we will see cars in the dealer to test drive if you didn't already order it would be August. There are 200 cars being made for delivery in August. The 100 signature cars and 100 for dealers to do demos on. For those that ordered in April (1st order run), you can expect sometime in late August or September. I was told that the second ordering cycle ended this past Sunday. Delivery estimated to be at best September! So.....If you are like me, who was number 354, but have not ordered yet because of concerns over the commitments from Fisker, and the clear lack of hitting targets, if we wait til August to do a test drive and then order, we could expect to get the car anywhere from 4-6 months post our order, thus putting it in the middle of Winter! Don't know how this beast goes in the snow, but if it's that long to get one, I'm going to wait til November to order so I get it when things thaw again and I can enjoy it every day!

All this information came from a very pleasant customer care person who was extremely honest and helpful (first time ever for Fisker in my mind) and was reached at the Fisker Consumer Affairs number of 855-347-5371. For those of you who want to talk with a pleasant, informative person, call this number. Won't promise you that you will get any concrete answers, but he was able to answer some other questions and concerns I had related to the rear headroom. I'm 6'3" tall, and in the demo they took around I felt like I was hitting the ceiling in the back seats. I was told rear headroom is only 35.6" due to the slope of the roofline. I am still one who hopes to own one of these great cars, but the longer it takes and the less real honest communication we get from Fisker (dealer told me May test drives!!!) the more I am looking at alternatives. No real way to treat people willing to shell out over $100k for a car. All the best to those who have a greater sense of patience than I do. As a relief to some of you, if you ordered the car and it comes and you don't like the looks, color combo, the way it drives, or anything else about it, I was assured once again that you would NOT have to buy the car and that you would be able to get your deposit back direct from Fisker. Now if there was some way to get a good quality picture of EVERY color on a real car from Fisker (consumer affairs group couldn't even provide that), then it'd be easier to make the final pick. Hate to choose a color combo that I think I want, wait 6 months for it to come, and then not buy it only to wait another 6 months for a replacement. Good luck everybody. Your original deposit number won't matter anymore since there's plenty of us who are waiting to see what happens.

[brian]

Interesting. My dealer recently told me they were getting their demos in June. Even at June it still makes me wonder what the hell Fisker has been doing since March 21st. I think the announcement that they started production on that date was bunk.

-Brian

[ct-fiskerbuzz]

I wonder if Fisker have any parts that got delayed / canceled due to the Japan quake-and-tsunami...

Anyway, I would be cautious about doing a linear projection here:

Quote:If it takes until the end of August to get to 750 cars or even 1000 considering dealer demos etc. and production began on March 21st, that equates to around 200 a month.

(200 per month is a linear projection: April, May, June, July, August = 5 months, 1000 / 5 = 200.) Fisker have said repeatedly that they will start slow and ramp up. If they have made 1000 by early August, it could, for instance, be: 5 in April, 25 in May, 125 in June, 625 in July, etc. This is an exponential growth series where each month they produce five times as many as the previous month.

Now, I'm not suggesting that $n = 5 \sup \mbox{month}$ (to write it in LaTeX-ese) is the actual ramp-up equation either. It's much more likely that they make 1 per day initially, then 3, then suddenly jump to 12, then 15, for instance. Basically, work out kinks, then when it looks good, increase the pressure and find lots of new kinks, work those out, etc.

All of this will make it hard for Fisker, even with all the information, to predict when anyone's car would actually arrive. So I sympathize with them. Still, they really do owe a lot more visibility to those who have orders in....

[Dutch]

I called my dealer yesterday to ask if my production date - deposit #217, part of 1st production batch - is known, but unfortunately they couldn't tell me anything, simply because they have not been informed.

A few months ago Bernard Koehler said, in Paris, that some VIP's - so signature editions #1, #2, etc. - might be getting their car late June and 'regular' customers in July (I assume that means late July). If the production date of Soflauthor's car - #737 - is August 31 and delivery might be early October, than it still looks they are close to the schedule Koehler has mentioned. They would go from delivery of # 1 in late June/early July to #737 in early October, so 250 cars per month (more likely 150 - 250 - 350). The 200 demonstration cars - I heard many dealers ordered 3 to 4 cars - will then be built in April, May and June (with delivery in June or July).

But if the information Hokiebird got from Fisker Consumer Affairs is correct, this whole schedule has been moved back by about one month, with deliveries from the 1st order run (I am assuming these are regular cars, not the signature editions) starting in 'late August or September'.

They must be having their reasons for doing this (technical changes), it would however be nice - it has been said before - to communicate better about this. Even the dealers are being kept out of the loop. Communication is still Fisker's weak point; I haven't seen a newsletter from Fisker itself in a long time. Anyone know if Tesla did a better job in the early stages of the Roadster-production process?

About the performance: considering that every gasoline- or diesel-powered car in the world has a worse mileage than advertised and also electric cars like the Leaf do not provide the range that is advertised, I think it is safe to assume the Fisker will not get to 50 miles full-electric. If it did, Fisker would be the first company in the world to market a number that is realistic. And that itself is unrealistic.

[brian]

(05-19-2011 09:53 PM)Dutch Wrote:  About the performance: considering that every gasoline- or diesel-powered car in the world has a worse mileage than advertised and also electric cars like the Leaf do not provide the range that is advertised, I think it is safe to assume the Fisker will not get to 50 miles full-electric. If it did, Fisker would be the first company in the world to market a number that is realistic. And that itself is unrealistic.

Actually, my experience has been different. I typically get better gas mileage than the stickers claim. Last month I managed to get 22.3 mpg on a 2-way road trip in my Aston Martin which is rated for only 19mpg. I typically get over 19 on any highway trip in that car, even if I drive 85mph and like a maniac. My SUV is rated for 17mpg highway, but I've always gotten at least 17.5, but typically 18-18.5 out of it.

That being said, I still don't trust any numbers from Fisker

-Brian