It was not too long ago when Faraday Future wowed us with its flashy presentation of the FF 91 at CES 2017 in January. Back then, the future looked promising for the company touting itself with "the next generation of sustainable luxury mobility."
Things are looking bleak for the company now. First, the company is scaling back its EV production lineup. The original plan was to come up with a portfolio composed of seven electric vehicles, but now the company has decided to stick with just two: the FF 91 flagship and a less expensive, mass-market model called the FF 81, which will be in direct competition with the Tesla Model X.
Faraday Future's $1 Billion Factory Will Be Downsized
Aside from the production downgrade, plans of building an auto assembly factory have shrunk in size. The company was planning to build a 3-million-square-foot plant on 703 acres of land in Nevada. But construction has been stalled due to lack of funding and cash flow issues. The company was also widely criticized for receiving tax subsidies for its planned Nevada plant.
According to North Las Vegas City Manager Qiong Liu, the plant's construction will begin later this year, but will only be 650,000 square feet, a quarter of its original planned size.
Suppliers Suing FF For Unpaid Bills
The Mill Group, a visual effects studio, is suing the company for $1.8 million due to unpaid bills for a presentation it created that was used by the company during its CES 2017 launch. Seat supplier Futuris has also sued the company for non-payment.
Top Talent Leaving The Company
Former chief executives Marco Mattiacci and Joerg Sommer left the company late last year, and now it appears that Umran Ashraf, an engineering director, is throwing in the towel as well. Ashraf left the company to join another car startup (founded by former FF employees) called Romeo Power. Several engineers from FF have also reportedly followed Ashraf's departure.
Top Investor Putting 'Over-extended' Efforts
Jia Yueting, a Chinese tech billionaire, is Faraday Future's top investor. But he also happens to be the CEO of LeEco and oversees the operations of LeSee, which is the company's electric car division in China. Back in November, Yueting admitted to employees that LeEco is running out of cash because he "over-extended" his plans for expansion in the U.S. market.
Some of the talent from Faraday Future is behind the technology used to develop LeSee's sedan. The spread of talent — not to mention funds — have made a negative impact on Faraday Future.
