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who the heck is (*WAS*) Faraday?

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#1 · (Edited)
subtitle: STRIKE 1 aka the FFZERO1 Concept(ual) Car ...post#5

Inside Faraday Future, the secretive car company chasing Tesla
& video
the Verge

By Tamara Warren | November 19, 2015

Inside a suburban Los Angeles industrial building that once served as an R&D facility for Japanese automotive giant Nissan, natural midday light spills through the windows. Today, a very different company occupies this space...

This is the headquarters of Faraday Future, a young, seemingly well-funded company with an odd name that hasn’t said much about what it’s working on. We know that electric cars are involved, and we know that they’re probably years away from production. In the year and a half since Faraday’s founding, it has transformed this facility into a bustling corporate campus, stacked with a who’s-who list of poaches from some of California’s most prominent tech companies.

Tesla is one of those companies... ...But now trading as a public company, Tesla is no longer the feisty new kid on the block — and it could be ripe for disruption, if Faraday gets its way.

Faraday Future first came into the news last summer when news leaked of its existence and its intention to produce electric cars. But speculation swirled around the company’s origins, its finances, and exactly what kind of car it was intending to build. In recent weeks, intrigue has heightened, as news has trickled about its links to Chinese investors and the identity of its unnamed CEO.

This week, Faraday Future chief designer Richard Kim is expected to announce that the company will participate at CES in January, its first major trade show. Though Faraday is still very much in stealth mode, it recently announced that it plans to spend $1 billion on a US factory that will produce electric cars using a non-traditional sales model. ( which Las Vegas is drooing over )...
...While a prototype might be introduced soon, mass manufacturing could still be years away. Making cars isn’t easy; Google, for instance, farms out the production of its self-driving prototypes to a third party.

In Faraday’s engineering facility, the floors are a spotless white with sundry car parts and brightly colored machines tucked in corners. A large 3D printer sits on a table. Engineers are hunched over terminals. During my visit, conversation among the employees was the only audible sound. The work of developing modern electric cars is quiet, it turns out.


It’s probably no coincidence that the brief history of Faraday recalls Tesla’s early years. When Tesla was founded in 2003 by engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, Elon Musk was an investor in the background. Later, when Musk took the reins as chairman and eventually CEO, he doggedly guided it to manufacture the Roadster, largely through sheer force of will. In doing so, Tesla turned to the auto industry to mine for talent and attracted employees from its production partner, Lotus. Now, Faraday has attracted a fair number of former Tesla staff to join as senior managers and throughout the ranks of the company.

One of those executives is Nick Sampson, a senior VP at Faraday in charge of R&D and engineering. He also acts as the company’s public face...

...Sampson says Faraday was born from a conversation. "Three people sitting around in an office, discussing the future of the car and what people’s mobility would be in the future. Eighteen months later, we’ve got over 400 people working from all over the world," he says. He expects that number to double within the next year...

...First off, Faraday sought expertise from beyond the auto business. "We reached out into the aerospace industries, the medical device industries, into the internet and technology industries to pull together a group of people with a diverse range of skills that could build a product that’s new and different," he says. In addition to Tesla, BMW, and Audi, the new hires come from Apple, SpaceX, and Hulu.

But I still wasn’t exactly sure what "the Faraday future" was, and this company — this secretive, well-funded institution with ambiguous goals — has done little to answer questions in the year and a half since its founding. In describing Faraday’s goals to me, Sampson’s first reference point was the desire to see more connectivity in cars...

...though, details are scant. Faraday’s cars will be electric, and Sampson suggested that they will be autonomous. More pointedly, he focused on the potential for new ownership models that Faraday is considering. "Uber, for instance, is a new way of traveling, a new way of getting about. Some people are considering not even having a car. The cars of the future have got to meet those needs," he says. Sampson imagines various custom vehicles that are designed for specific purposes such as a family trip, the work commute, or Home Depot runs. "I don’t have to buy one compromise vehicle, I can just have use of the perfect model when I need it, like a subscription service. We now subscribe to music; we used to buy music."


For now, Faraday might not be quite ready to reveal its strategy — but it can’t sit still...
...Later, I met up with Kim, Faraday’s design chief, who greeted me standing next to a covered prototype. As part of our arrangement, I agreed to keep my impressions on its exterior silhouette out of my report — but its shape was distinct from anything I’ve seen on the road. "It’s a car to some degree," Kim tells me, who was previously responsible for designing BMW’s electrified i3 and i8 models. "It’s a mobility device, and when people interact with cars, there is of course the irrational desire to have it. The car is still going to be beautiful, as traditional car designers want to have."

We moved on to the design studio on the top floor, where jazzy house music played in the background. Some 65 designers and support staff report to Kim, and on the day of my visit, the team buzzed with excitement about the work being done. In addition to traditional automotive CAD modeling, the designers work with Oculus Rift and augmented reality.

Kim said he and his team made up the process for designing with new technology on the fly in order to meet their tight design deadlines. "We’re doing things super fast in a third of the time that I am used to," says Kim. We’re still doing it high-quality and it’s giving new insight to see things immediately," he says. "We’re using the technology as it’s being developed. You see designers with a VR headset and they are pointing in space." Everyone I spoke to at the company said they feel a sense of freedom to do things that they couldn’t do at other companies, which clearly is helping to motivate them — even on that late Friday afternoon, the designers seemed focused. They’d better; for now, Faraday still doesn’t have a product, and the financial mathematics of the car business are brutal. Just ask Elon Musk.

 

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#2 · (Edited)
Re: who the heck is Faraday?

At Faraday Future, we believe that today’s cars do not meet today’s needs. Technological innovations, energy constraints, urban crowding and demanding lifestyles have each contributed to a fundamental shift in our relationships with our cars.

By placing equal emphasis on automotive and technology disciplines, our team of experts is uniquely positioned to take a user-centric, technology-first approach to vehicle design with the ultimate aim of connecting the automotive experience to the rest of your life.

We will launch with fully-electric vehicles that will offer smart and seamless connectivity to the outside world. Beyond traditional electric vehicles, we are also developing other aspects of the automotive and technology industries, including unique ownership models, in-vehicle content and autonomous driving.

leadership
Our team is currently comprised of more than 400 employees of diverse backgrounds spanning the automotive, technology, energy, aerospace and design industries. We expect to number approximately 500 by the end of 2015.

Our seasoned team of leaders includes:
• Nick Sampson, Senior Vice President of R&D and Engineering – Former Director of Vehicle & Chassis Engineering, Tesla Motors
• Dag Reckhorn, Vice President of Global Manufacturing – Former Director of Manufacturing, Tesla Model S
• Alan Cherry, Vice President of Human Resources - Former Senior Director, Human Resources, Tesla Motors
• Tom Wessner, Vice President of Supply Chain - Former Director of Purchasing, Tesla Motors
• Richard Kim, Head of Design – Founding member of BMW i Design and Lead Designer, i3 and i8 concepts.
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#4 · (Edited)
Re: who the heck is Faraday?

in prep for CES and to get Hi-Tech/HighTouch(ieFeelie)...

2016 CES - Faraday Future Proposes Car Of The Future Made in Las Vegas +VIDEO(s)
TheAutoChannel

'16Jan4

...Faraday Future Leadership
Faraday Future team is currently comprised of more than 400 employees of diverse backgrounds spanning the automotive, technology, energy, aerospace and design industries. We expect to number approximately 500 by the end of 2015.

Faraday Future seasoned team of leaders includes:
Nick Sampson, Senior Vice President of R&D and Engineering – Former Director of Vehicle & Chassis Engineering, Tesla Motors
Dag Reckhorn, Vice President of Global Manufacturing – Former Director of Manufacturing, Tesla Model S
Alan Cherry, Vice President of Human Resources - Former Senior Director, Human Resources, Tesla Motors
Tom Wessner, Vice President of Supply Chain - Former Director of Purchasing, Tesla Motors
Richard Kim, Head of Design – Founding member of BMW i Design and Lead Designer, i3 and i8 concepts.




EDIT:
was just updating the Autoshow SpeculIndex thread with the V90 for Geneva
and was reminded that Faraday is supposed to show a CONCEPT at CES...
- - - - - - -
re-EDIT:


so disappointed, not even making a new post
 
#5 ·
#7 ·
Re: who the heck is Faraday?

fwiw...
LeEco, Faraday: Connected Cars, Connected Companies
WardsAuto

Alysha Webb | May 10, 2016
LeSee concept electric vehicle
Faraday Future and (LeAuto division of) LeEco (Chinese Internet-content company) will draw upon the variable platform architecture developed by Faraday Future for two different electric vehicles, one for the mass market and one for the luxury segment

...The two are much closer than partners, however. They will share the same platform to create EVs in two different segments, a top executive at both companies says.

“Actually, we are the same company,” says (Ding Lei, head of the LeAuto division), handing over two name cards, one for Faraday Future and one for LeTV, the former English name of LeEco.

The companies will share the variable-platform architecture developed by Faraday Future, he says, but likely use it for two different EV brands, one for the mass market and one for the luxury segment.

Jia Yueting, the Chinese Internet billionaire who is funding both companies, has bitten off a lot with his ambitious plans. Neither Faraday Future nor LeSEE offers a launch date for their EVs. Jia’s company in China, Le Holdings, already produces mobile phones and TVs as delivery devices for LeEco’s Internet content. Jia has said cars are just another content delivery device. LeEco, often called China’s Netflix, even has a subsidiary, Le Vision Pictures based in Beijing and Los Angeles that will produce movies and TV series.

Meanwhile, LeSEE, its connected-car division, is working with Aston Martin to produce first a gasoline-powered car equipped with LeEco’s Internet of Vehicles system and headset, then an Aston Martin-badged connected EV.

“We look forward to a long and happy collaboration with LeEco,” Andy Palmer, CEO of Aston Martin, says at the LeEco press conference in Beijing...

...a handful of Chinese-invested companies, which besides Faraday Future includes NextEV, Karma and Atieva, have established beachheads in California and say they will bring high-tech EVs to market.

“The Chinese companies love to make a lot of noise,” says (Karl) Brauer(, a senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book). “They like to show to lot of flash and make a lot of claims. It is sort like the boy crying wolf to me.”

To be sure, LeEco and Faraday Future don’t deny they are connected. LeEco is Faraday Future’s content provider and strategic partner, says Robert Filipovic, Faraday Future’s head of product strategy.

“There is no more important alliance than the one we have with LeEco,” he says. “We will work together when it makes sense.”
 
#10 ·
What The F(araday)...

Faraday "CEO" Abandons Company Days Before Key Unveiling
TTAC

By Matt Posky on December 30, 2016


Faraday Future continues to dispense epoch-making levels of hype as the company seemingly implodes. Last week, Faraday’s chief brand and commercial officer and its vice president for product marketing both abandoned the company. This week, they were followed by elusive Chinese overseer and “unofficial” CEO, Ding Lei. Of course, Faraday Future has already spent the last two years without a CEO — much in the same way it has functioned without sufficient capital, a clear business plan, or a tangible product.

Meanwhile,
the company’s Twitter feed is excitedly counting down the days until it unveils something at the Consumer Electronics Show...

.
 
#12 ·
Re: who the heck is Faraday?

via CarSpyShots
drugmirko at CarSpyShots said:
allegedly, this is a production vehicle, presented on Vegas CES2017... though I'm a bit skeptical about cars that are "presented" in production form a full year (and more) than they will actually be produced...











I have to say that -though there are some viewing angles from which it looks interesting- I simply don't like it! visually.... for all other claims like 1050hp engines, 2.39sec acceleration, 600km range and all other hi-tech "mumbo-jumbo", only time will tell...

there's also a bunch of presentation videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRLKsmRmUGE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3p_xITB8nw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5JZBDqKD_Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO6Zyitikww

source: autoblog.rs
 
#13 ·
Re: who the heck is Faraday?

It's a weird looking vehicle.
 
#14 ·
Faraday FUBAR**

China-backed electric vehicle startup Faraday scales back U.S. plans
Reuters-Business News

By Paul Lienert and Norihiko Shirouzu | DETROIT/BEIJING | Wed Feb 1, 2017

...Faraday...is throttling back on plans...

...Faraday will build a much smaller auto assembly facility than originally planned in North Las Vegas, Nevada,
a city official said late on Tuesday.

North Las Vegas city manager Qiong Liu said Faraday told the city it will build a 650,000-square-foot...facility,
beginning later this year, on the site of a plant originally planned to take up 3 million square feet.
(A source familiar with the company's thinking said the smaller Nevada plant likely will be set up to build fewer than 10,000 cars a year and may not open until 2019)...

...also pared its planned product portfolio down from seven to two vehicles...

...At least a dozen key U.S. executives have departed Faraday in the last nine months...



** F.U.B.A.R.

F---ed Up Beyond All Recognition
 
#15 · (Edited)
Re: Faraday FUBAR

F.U.B.A.R. F---ed Up Beyond All Recognition

Faraday Future Hits the Pause Button on $1 Billion Nevada Plant
MotorTrend
- Kelly Pleskot - July 11, 2017


Automaker ( hopes to ) shifts focus to an existing manufacturing facility...
- - - - - - -
...heard on tv news = either in Nevada or California
- - - - - - -
"We at Faraday Future are significantly shifting our business strategy to position the company as the leader in user-ship personal mobility – a vehicle usage model that reimagines the way users access mobility,” Faraday Future said in a statement to Motor Trend. “As a result of this shift in direction, we are in the process of identifying a manufacturing facility that presents a faster path to start-of-production and aligns with future strategic options.

:facepalm:
 
#16 ·
Faraday future leases California factory

http://jalopnik.com/faraday-future-found-a-new-factory-to-replace-its-non-e-1797592145

Weeks after Faraday Future announced it would halt construction of a $1 billion factory in Nevada, the company said on Monday that it has a new lease on life, after securing a facility in California to continue efforts to build an all-electric autonomous car.

In a statement that represents some of the most candid remarks from Faraday executives to date, the company?s chief financial officer, Stefan Krause, said there remains a number of challenges ahead.


?We know there is a lot of work and risks ahead, but this event represents a major step forward for the company,? Krause said.

?As we begin this next phase in our company?s history,? he added, ?our efforts to build out strong corporate leadership will bring a new focus to Faraday Future and deliver on our commitments to employees, investors, suppliers, and future users, who have shown exceptional patience and resilience through the company?s difficult times.?

The company?s expecting to officially move into the factory at the beginning of 2018 when the lease terms begin, according to The Verge, which first reported news of the deal on Sunday.

The new site, known as Hanford Business Park, is 1 million sq ft, and Faraday says it hopes to eventually employ up to 1,300 workers over three shifts. The building, about 200 miles north of Faraday?s corporate headquarters, is owned by a development firm called Industrial Realty Group, which is behind the controversial deal involving Elio Motors and a former General Motors factory in Shreveport, Louisiana.


The company has indicated in recent weeks that it was looking for a turn-key investment of sorts to stay on schedule and bring its flagship vehicle, the FF 91, to production by the end of 2018. But financial problems have plagued Faraday throughout this year, including a court decision that froze the assets of its main financier, billionaire LeEco founder Jia Yueting. Faraday said in May that it was looking to raise $1 billion to shore up its funds, but the effort was reportedly unsuccessful.

Faraday recently secured a $14 million emergency loan by putting its corporate headquarters up as collateral, according to the Wall Street Journal. The loan?s intended to help keep the lights on while the company tries to secure additional long-term funding, the newspaper reported.
 
#17 · (Edited)
the "Once and Future"...FaradayFuture?

apologies to T.H.White .../... what a diff a few days-daze make?

Faraday Future preparing for bankruptcy?

LeftlaneNews.com
- Justin King - November 9, 2017


Alleged leaked documents claim the company has been preparing to go bankrupt while attempting to attract more investors...

- - - - - - -

Faraday Future Loses FIVE Senior Executives
CarScoops
| Brad Anderson | Nov 13, 2017


downright CARELESS if ya ask me ...apologies to Oscar Wilde/"The Importance of Being Earnest"

- - - - - - - if YOU had $900million, would you call yourself a Billionaire??

Did Tata just buy a $900M stake in Faraday Future?
MotorAuthority
- Viknesh Vijayenthiran - 13 hours ago


Faraday Future may have just been thrown a life line in the form of a $900 million investment by Indian automaker Tata.

Chinese automotive news aggregator Gasgoo claims media sources in China are reporting that the $900 million is for a 10 percent stake in Faraday Future, thus valuing the electric car startup at $9 billion.

While it may seem like Tata is getting the short end of the stick, the deal, if real, will likely give the Indian automaker access to Faraday Future’s electric car technology.

Faraday Future’s been in the headlines a lot lately, though for all the wrong reasons.

The electric car startup has been stumbling since about May when it was revealed the company was looking to raise $1 billion after main backer Jia Yueting, the CEO and founder of Chinese tech giant LeEco, came out with the statement he was experiencing a cash crunch due to too rapid expansion of his various ventures.

Faraday Future wasn’t spared and by July work on its planned $1 billion plant in Nevada had come to a stop. Fortunately, Faraday Future in August was able to secure an existing plant in California so that it could get its first model, the FF 91, into production sooner than if it waited for the Nevada plant to come online. The Nevada plant is still the long-term goal, though, as the Californian plant only supports small-scale production.

And Faraday Future’s troubles don’t end there. The company on November 10 said it fired Chief Financial Officer Stefan Krause and Chief Technology Officer Ulrich Kranz, both of them former senior executives at BMW.

In a statement, Faraday Future said Krause had been fired as a result of his actions in hindering the company’s fundraising efforts, which Faraday Future says included the "possible violation of law." Faraday Future also said it is taking legal actions as a result of Krause's actions.

Krause on November 13 replied with his own statement, claiming Faraday Future’s comments falsely described his departure from the company and could be construed as defamatory.

“The company's statement inaccurately portrays the circumstances surrounding my departure, and includes baseless and defamatory statements about me and my contributions to the company,” Krause said in his statement. “I have retained legal counsel and will be exploring all options available to me.”

No reason for Kranz’s termination has been given.

As for when we might actually see a car in production, Faraday Future says it is in the process of clearing out its Californian plant, which is located in Hanford. The company expects significant movement to ramp-up on site in early 2018.

Faraday Future remains hopeful of starting deliveries of the FF 91 in 2019. The 1,050-horsepower, 300-mile electric car was first shown in January at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show. Since then Faraday Future has been accepting $5,000 (refundable) deposits for the car whose final price is yet to be confirmed but is expected to start in the 6-figure range.

.
 
#19 ·
Fara day OVER? ...MotorTrend


The news continues to get worse for Faraday Future

Back in October, we reported that Tom Wessner, Faraday Future’s head of supply chain management, had resigned from the EV startup. He followed Alan Cherry, the company’s head of human resources, who chose to leave the startup two months earlier. Today, we learned that Richard Kim, Faraday Future’s head of design, has also resigned.

The Verge reports that Kim submitted his resignation on Tuesday of this week and that as of today, he is no longer with the company. “Richard gave his heart and soul to that company, and he tried to make it work. He’s been considering leaving for two to three months,” a former employee told The Verge. Before taking the job at FF, Kim worked at BMW, where he was responsible for the design of the i8 concept, the i3, and the X1.

With Kim gone, that means of the five founding executives, only Nick Sampson, the head of research and development, and Dag Reckhorn, the head of manufacturing, are still at the company. Stefan Krause, the company’s chief financial officer, and Ulrich Kranz, the chief technical officer, also recently resigned.

As you can imagine, losing that many executives in such a short period of time can’t be good for company morale. When Wessner resigned in October, one employee told The Verge, “Morale is tanked. No one is in the office ever. They keep bringing in investors, but no one invests. [The] company is a sinking ship.”

Based on an email sent by Allan Lu, FF’s new head of go-to-market operations, and obtained by The Verge, things have only gotten worse since then. Lu reportedly wrote that “only 2 people were in office” when Jia Yueting, the company’s acting CEO, showed up for a meeting with potential investors.

“I would like to make it clear that we will be on time to the work starting from 9:00 am every day and closing of business by 6:00 pm ,unless you have your managers [sic] pre-approval for late come or early leave,” he continued, claiming the company is “very close obtaining investment.”

Assuming this information is all accurate, you have to wonder how much longer Faraday Future can stay in business.

Source: The Verge
 

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#20 ·
mainly for the foto...
Faraday Future CEO Defies Order to Return to China
TTAC
- Matt Posky - January 2, 2018

Founder of the debt-laden technology firm LeEco has shirked orders from Chinese authorities to return to the country before the end of 2017, saying he needed to stay within the United States to fundraise for Faraday Future. Last week, the Beijing branch of the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued a notice ordering Jia Yueting to return to China to face the staggering debt attached to his various businesses and protect investors’ rights.

However, he claims he’s making too much headway with efforts to keep electric vehicle startup Faraday Future from sinking deeper into the toilet to head back to China. Instead, he has requested that his brother, Jia Yuemin, meet the regulator face-to-face last Friday to provide a report in response to the notice.

“I am deeply sorry and blame myself for the negative impact of LeEco’s debt crisis,” Reuters reported Jia Yueting as saying on his official WeChat account on Tuesday. “The fundraising for Faraday Future in the United States is making significant progress and there are many tasks I need to push forward in order to ensure the production and timely delivery of the FF91.”

Still, Faraday’s ability to bring its much-hyped EV to market continues to look less and less likely. The company’s financial issues are well-documented and nothing but Jia’s promises have offered any indication that the situation might be improving. LeEco previously worked jointly on an electric vehicle with FF. But its own explosive expansion into everything high-tech is the primary reason for its defaulting on payments. At its peak, LeEco owed creditors around 10 billion yuan — or $1.54 billion.

Likewise, Faraday Future also had numerous debts that went unsettled last year. This has resulted in the firm scaling back its production efforts immensely, despite big promises made in 2016. Jia has since assured the public that the capital necessary to save the automaker is all but secured.

He also points to a single late payment in July as the impetus of LeEco’s cash-flow problems, suggesting it led to the freezing of his assets and prompted a barrage of early loan recoveries. He said “false and malicious” reports have impacted the business as well. Jia was placed on an official blacklist of debt defaulters in early December, a move taken by the Chinese courts to pressure people and entities to repay outstanding debts.
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