Troubled EV startup, Faraday Future, may just arise from the ashes.
Faraday Future is probably most famous for its sort of Maglev-Train-looking super EV prototype, which sort of died in late 2019 after a tumultuous press battle. The founder and former CEO, Chinese businessman Jia Yueting got embroiled in fraud; a stock short-selling scandal. After heavy corporate shuffling, including a demotion of Yueting as a CEO, the company has quietly continued. But, its EV aspirations have been kind of dead in the water due to a lack of funding. Just last week, Faraday Future pushed back its release date for the FF91 to the fourth quarter of 2022.
Now, the company may have found some money to finish and release its car, the FF91. About a week ago, Faraday Future insisted it needed around $325 million to produce the car, and keep the business running. In an 8K filing, the company said that it is in “confidential discussions and negotiations with certain potential investors regarding a potential financing transaction to fund production activities.” An SEC report showed that Faraday Future has executed a non-binding term sheet with multiple (currently unnamed) investors. A group of investors going by the name “FF Top” would invest at least $100 million.
The FF91’s production-intent design was unveiled in 2017. At the time, it claimed to be the most powerful, fastest EV ever, with a 0-60 time of fewer than three seconds. The FF91 would start at $120,000, and reach past $180,000, indicating its hyper-electric luxury status. But, things change fast in EV world; both the Lucid Air and Tesla Model S Plaid match or better the FF91’s stats, and those are two models that are on sale today. If Faraday Future does pull together funding, the end product might not be as competitive in a market of well-done expensive EVs from Rivian, Lucid, or even Cadillac.
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