If you could ask Henrik anything, what would it be?
1 - 19 of 19 Posts
Joined
·
1,218 Posts
I've been thinking about it too. Knowing that if he called I'd have a lot less the 20 minutes, I'd implore him to take whatever resources and time is needed to make the control center as good as the Karma design and the hybrid powertrain. As you know, the looks of the car blow people away. But if they don't get the control center right, it will continue to detract from the car and eventually hurt sales.SoCalGuy said:
BMW iDrive comes to mind. :thumbdown:
Joined
·
1,218 Posts
It is software, it is all fixable, just give Fisker some time to get it right. :exclamation:karma1 said:
If the car was ugly or the powertrain had bugs, it would be a bad situation. With proper attention, the early problems in the control center can be forgotten in a few months.
As to how it could happen, startup companies and their products usually reflect the personalities of the people who are leading them, both their strengths and their weaknesses. Henrik is a great designer, is passionate about design, and as a result the Karma is a beautifully designed car. Unfortunately Henrik and his team did not place the same degree of attention on the control system software.
Joined
·
4,665 Posts
My one and only question would be "whose job it was to keep the customers informed of what is going on and why does this person still have a job at Fisker?" From my perspective, the startup pains are understandable given the complexity of this enterprise. I am sure the first car Ferdiand Porsche put out was not perfect either. But the "cone of silence" approach to communicating with their biggest fans and supporters is simply inexcusable. And whoever was responsible for that aspect of the project should have had to clear their desk a long time ago.
-- Fab.
-- Fab.
If and when Henrik calls I'm really just going to try and find out what's really fixed in 6.13. I want to know if it fixes just the Check Engine light and dash problems, or if it also fixes the countless number of errors and design flaws in the Command Center - mainly the Nav system which is totally useless right now.
-Brian
-Brian
Joined
·
1,218 Posts
Given the sheer number of bugs in the command center software, I don't think it is realistic to expect all of them to be fixed in 1 or 2 new releases. My hope is that they will address the high priority issues that could interfere with vehicle operation. Then they can turn attention to overall performance and the other subsystems like nav, Bluetooth, solar roof, etc.brian said:
Joined
·
378 Posts
Hindsight is an amazing thing. I think I would ask him if he could do it all over again,
1) What would he do differently?
2) Would he have the same team at the beginning that he had in reality?
3) I'd ask him what he felt were the key disconnects between the fantastic design/engineering and the command center issues?
I'll bet he had a few "yes men" in the room that told him the command center would be great, fantastic, the least of his worries...
All great leaders have a few bad lieutenants, its in how those lieutenants are dealt with that makes the difference.
Still a huge raving fan of the car and the company, but I understand the concerns expressed by the people that already have their cars. They live it every day.
1) What would he do differently?
2) Would he have the same team at the beginning that he had in reality?
3) I'd ask him what he felt were the key disconnects between the fantastic design/engineering and the command center issues?
I'll bet he had a few "yes men" in the room that told him the command center would be great, fantastic, the least of his worries...
All great leaders have a few bad lieutenants, its in how those lieutenants are dealt with that makes the difference.
Still a huge raving fan of the car and the company, but I understand the concerns expressed by the people that already have their cars. They live it every day.
Joined
·
1,183 Posts
I would ask Henrik if he reads FiskerBuzz, and insist that he does - invisibly or not - to quickly learn what's going on with his cars. He can just read Brian and Karma1's posts if he wants the abridged but pretty comprehensive version of what people are experiencing to varying degrees.
I would ask," How many orders are pending now?" and I mean real confirmed orders with deposits and choices. Now that the deadline has passed for the original 3000 to step up, it would be an indication for us about the viability of the company that is offering us 5 year warranties. At what rate are new orders coming in?
BillyO
BillyO
Well, I certainly can't speak for the general market, but I first saw the car drive past me on December 27th and placed my "real confirmed order with deposit and choices" on December 30th. There is a strong appeal to the car -- in my mind, looks are the leading feature followed by EVer and heaps of other new technology. That new technology also comes with a whole bunch of early adopter risk, and I think several folks on the forum are living through that now.BillyO said:
I should get an estimated Ready For Sales date sometime this week. It will undoubtedly be a few months away and on the good side, Fisker should be able to sort through a few issues between now and then, and on the "bad" side, I'll have to continue living vicariously through others.
Mark
Joined
·
1,975 Posts
On my 20 minute call with Henrik, he seemed very scripted and less personable. I did appreciate the sentiment, but on several questions I got the marketing line "I can't really discuss that because we haven't made that public" or for example, when asked about the price increases, he said "well, we only gave guidance to people and that's the downside of giving guidance, people expect it as firm...we've had lots of cost inflation since then etc etc" I'm sure his marketing team coached him to the many questions those of us would ask.BillyO said:
And yes, his marketing team (not just Dave Harris, but the WHOLE team) does read this forum.
@BillyO was wondering earlier in this thread about how many orders were currently pending. Apparently Fisker finished their mid-January allocation plan and I heard from my dealer today. They told me that my car will be Passed to Sales (which I think means ready for shipping) on Feb 17. Which then implies at my dealership in mid-April. So, there doesn't appear to be too large a backlog given I placed my order on Dec 30.
Mark
Mark
It will be interesting to see what VIN# is assigned to your car. Mine is a low 900's and was produced in late November. It just landed in NY yesterday. They are saying the battery clamp adjustment and software upgrades will take about a month so I expect delivery in late Feb. I'm fine with that now. I just don't have time to be screwing around with sending it back and forth for software updates etc. It's been 3 1/2 years, what's another month? If the current owners were raving about how great the car was I'd be really chomping at the bit.MJM said:
BillyO
1 - 19 of 19 Posts
