YouTuber MKBHD Criticizes Fisker, Electric Car Manufacturer’s Stock Plummets by 50%
Fisker, a relatively new player in the electric car market, has recently gained attention on social media, but not in a positive way. This is largely due to the influence of YouTuber MKBHD Marques Brownlee, one of the most famous reviewers on YouTube.
The drama began when Brownlee reached out to Fisker to borrow their Ocean car for a review. Despite its eye-catching design and spacious interior, the Ocean has been plagued with software issues since its launch in June 2023. Brownlee wanted to evaluate the car to see if these issues had been resolved after several months.
Although Fisker sent some OTA software updates for the Ocean, it seems that the issues persist. This led YouTuber MKBHD to label the Ocean as the “worst car I’ve ever reviewed,” despite being impressed with its exterior and interior design. This criticism had a shocking impact on the company’s stock.
Brownlee even emphasized, “Even if the company gave me this car, I wouldn’t drive it.”
Brownlee revealed that since Fisker did not provide him with the car during the desired timeframe, he had to borrow an Ocean from a Mitsubishi dealer for the review. When Fisker found out, they requested that he not review the car because the software had not been updated to version 2.0. However, Brownlee decided to continue because Ocean cars were being delivered to customers without the 2.0 update. Brownlee stated, “I’m not the one causing customers to wait for promised updates that may come in the future.”
During the review process, Brownlee pointed out several issues such as the malfunctioning keyless entry, faulty automatic hill-hold system causing the car to roll back when releasing the brake, unstable California Mode (rear window not lowering as expected), inability to monitor solar panel output on the roof, and various driving mode errors. Additionally, several warning lights would turn on every time the car was started.
Brownlee also criticized the Ocean for lacking a glove box while having an unconventional storage tray that occupied a significant amount of space on the center console. The control buttons on the steering wheel were easily pressed accidentally due to their placement. Many buttons were unlabeled, making it difficult to use certain features.
Fisker’s response to this review only worsened the situation. A senior engineer from Fisker contacted the dealer who lent the car to Brownlee in an attempt to control the damage, unaware that the call was being recorded. In the recording, the engineer admitted that even with updates, the software still had “many vulnerabilities.” This recorded conversation attracted over 3.6 million views on TikTok.
After Brownlee’s review video was released, Fisker’s stock price dropped by approximately 50%. It’s worth noting that Brownlee has more subscribers on YouTube than the combined following of the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.
This demonstrates the significant influence that social media reviewers have on consumer products. In another notable development, Fisker also announced that the company may not have enough funding to survive this year.