These Are The Automakers You Think Will Go Bankrupt Next

As the automotive world moves toward an electrified future, the industry is arguably changing more than it has in decades. New startups have emerged to challenge the legacy automakers, and billions of dollars are being invested in research and development. It hasn't exactly been smooth sailing for everyone involved, though. Fisker recently revealed that it doesn't have enough cash to last another year and needs a big investment to survive.

The good news for Fisker is that it appears Nissan is willing to step up, so bankruptcy could be off the table for now. Still, that got us thinking, and on Tuesday, we asked you which automaker you believe will be the next one to go bankrupt. Some of the responses made a lot of sense, although a few were definitely questionable. Let's see what you had to say.

Jaguar. They keep selling less and less every year and there's no compelling reason to buy anything they offer because the competition does it better. Furthermore, their shortsightedness to go fully EV by 2025 is doomed to failure, if today's EV market crash is anything to by.

If their gas cars are undesirable, what makes them think that their EVs will be? It's like if a human couple that is having serious relationship problems decided to have a baby because they think it will make their lives better, but it has the exact opposite effect.

This one definitely seems plausible, although we're not entirely sure going electric is as much of a problem as its failure to keep the lineup fresh. If Jaguar goes, we'll be sad even if we understand.

Suggested by: snisps

Chrysler, they make a sedan and a minivan, that's it, two unpopular vehicle types. They have announced an EV suv coming in 2028, kinda late to the party. The Dodge brand and RAM brand don't look like they are going to survive the EV transition. The RAM series hybrid truck looks interesting and IMHO the right path for electrification in the pickup segment but it might not be enough. These are this eras Studebakers.

Stellantis is so massive, it would be completely understandable if it decided to kill off a few brands. If it does, we wouldn't be surprised to see Chrysler get the axe even if it doesn't technically go bankrupt.

Suggested by: David White via Facebook

The obvious answer is an EV start up. Fisker might survive long enough for some Chinese company we don't know about to go belly up first. Lucid might surprise us and fall apart earlier than expected.

However, the curveball might be what seems to be happening in China. There are rumblings that there are core issues in the Chinese economy and that the real estate market there is hosed up. Large companies are really HUGE banks and large manufacturers. If the rumblings of instability within the Chinese market is real, then there could be a bankruptcy/re-organization of a major car company as a result. This could happen quickly, like what happened to GM in 2008.

So, my likely wrong suggestion, but just for fun. Geely gets stressed, which forces them to try to dump Volvo, Polestar and Lotus, all three of which wouldn't bring a lot of money given the overall stress on the global economy.

If Geely did this, we'd bet Polestar just gets shut down since it's so similar to Volvo. Lotus and Volvo, though, would probably die much slower deaths, which would be a shame. Although, you never know, a bigger brand might be interested in Lotus enough to outbid the venture capital companies.

Suggested by: hoser68

On the EV side, Canoo is the dead company walking. It's a shame really as it has potential to be a good product, but it's mired by horrible management.

On the non-EV side, I think I have to agree with others here and say the Chrysler brand will go away ala Oldsmobile. I'm sure it'll be revived in a few years though as an American luxury brand to compete with Lincoln.

You may be right, which is a shame because Canoo's designs look so cool. It's a company that's clearly thinking differently, but unfortunately, its time may be limited. The website still works, though, which was convenient when looking for a photo to use here. So there's still that.

Suggested by: DamnTheNoise

I'm shocked almost every single day that Mitsubishi is still alive.... Or at least the days I remember Mitsubishi exists, which are few and far between.

I've been expecting their bankruptcy for nearly 15 years now... but they still keep chugging along as the most forgotten car brand who somehow keeps limping along.

Mitsubishi may not have a large presence here in the U.S., but anyone who thinks it's on the verge of bankruptcy is fooling themselves. Mitsubishi will never die. It will outlive us all.

Suggested by: JamesRL

I'm not betting on this, but could it be Lucid? Or are the Saudis willing to keep pumping in the petrodollars to keep them afloat? (see what I did there?)

They hardly delivered any cars last year, and are on track to be in a single-digit thousands of cars this year, and that's their *goal*

Yeah, adjusting production expectations down that low is not a great sign, which is a shame because Lucid has actually built a really good product. A very expensive product, sure, but a good one nonetheless.

Suggested by: Kirkaiya

Well Nikola's net income was negative $966.23 million last year so that should put them in the running. NKLA can currently be bought for $0.70 a share, they were around $3.00 in July of '23.

Speaking of companies with websites that still surprisingly work well enough to download press images, Nikola is somehow still around. Some of the early ideas were really cool, but as it turns out, building a successful company requires more than some cool ideas.

Suggested by: klone121

Aptera, currently on life support, sure doesn't seem like they will live out the year. They've been kicking around that two-seat, three-wheel EV since 2006, and even liquidated once back in 2011. I have the sneaking suspicion that, even if they were to somehow, by some miracle, launch this year, it won't be enough to pull them out of the red. Already outdated with an NACS plug and far too niche for mass adoption, I can't see them raising the additional funds they need to stay solvent.

For some of the companies on this list, bankruptcy feels inevitable. For Aptera, the question is more how it hasn't gone bankrupt already. Surely, it's past time to pull the plug on this thing, right?

Suggested by: paradsecar

I love my Infiniti. The ones I've driven before were great too. However, I think the brand is cooked.

Infiniti filing for bankruptcy or being shut down by Nissan is one of those things that would be shocking the day it was announced but wouldn't exactly break many hearts. Maybe things would be different with a more compelling lineup, but unfortunately for Infiniti, making a compelling lineup costs a lot of money.

Suggested by: Ryan Pangle via Facebook

Definitely Rivian.

Leslie was far from the only person to suggest Rivian, but they were the most confident with their answer. Even if you don't count companies like Canoo and Aptera, though, surely Lucid would be more likely to go before Rivian, right? Rivian's sales alone are like an order of magnitude larger than Lucid's.

Suggested by: Leslie Wolf

Nissan. They've been lazily trying to drag old designs along way longer than they should go without significant updates for decades now.

Well, if Nissan goes out of business, that would take Infiniti down, too, so it's possible for Ryan and Donny to both be correct. And Nissan could definitely use a more updated lineup, although, apparently, the new Rogue is actually pretty good? Still, we're going to guess that Nissan's probably not next.

Suggested by: Donny Hoover via Facebook

I hope it's Ford, because I want them to rethink their strategy and start making affordable vehicles again.

You probably shouldn't take gambling advice from car writers, but in this case, we can absolutely, without a doubt, 100 percent guarantee that Ford isn't going bankrupt any time soon. There are established automakers out there that would kill to sell half as many vehicles in a year as Ford sells F-Series pickups, and the company isn't exactly giving those away at cost.

Suggested by: Benjamin N. Michaud