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.
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