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It’s Tuesday and today we’re talking about Fisker's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing amid financial turmoil, Toyota shareholders re-electing Akio Toyoda despite governance concerns, and the future of Apple's wireless-only CarPlay system facing industry skepticism.

Show Notes with links:

• Electric vehicle startup Fisker has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing quality problems with its Ocean crossover and an unsuccessful partnership attempt. This marks Henrik Fisker's second car company to declare bankruptcy.
  • Fisker filed for Chapter 11 after months of quality issues with its Ocean crossover and significant financial losses, including a $463 million net loss in Q4 2023.
  • The Ocean crossover struggled with distribution, incomplete software, and multiple safety investigations, including braking and door-latch issues by NHTSA.
  • Partnership negotiations with Nissan failed, adding to the strain on Fisker's finances and operations.
  • Henrik Fisker announced, "proceeding with a sale of our assets under Chapter 11 is the most viable path forward," as the company reported assets between $500 million to $1 billion and liabilities from $100 million to $500 million.
  • Production at Magna Steyr's plant in Austria was halted in March, leading to a $400 million revenue loss for Magna and 500 job cuts
    
    
    
• Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda and nine other board members were re-elected at the annual general meeting, with shareholders overlooking governance and certification test scandals. Toyoda's popularity and the automaker's strong business performance played a crucial role in his re-election.
  • Proxy advisers recommended against Toyoda's re-election due to governance issues and certification test scandals at Toyota and its affiliates.
  • Despite a drop in Toyoda's approval rating from 96% in 2022 to 85% last year, shareholders re-elected him, reflecting his popularity and strong company performance.\
  • Toyota's shares have fallen 10% since new certification irregularities were revealed but are still up 18% for the year.
  • CEO Koji Sato reiterated apologies for the certification problems but did not address the proxy advisers' recommendations.
    
    
• Our friends at GM may not care quite as much about this, but Apple's next-gen CarPlay is set to work wirelessly and aims to unify the car's interface, but adoption remains slow with only Aston Martin and Porsche on board so far as automakers remain skeptical of ceding control to Apple.
  • Apple announced its next-gen CarPlay, focusing on a wireless-only connection and integrating more car controls like speedometers and climate control.
  • Apple is offering a design toolkit allowing automakers to customize CarPlay’s interface, including using their own systems for certain features through “punch-through UI.”
  • Despite two years of development, only Aston Martin

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