Faraday Future no plans to lease an old tarp manufacturing plant in California to build its electric car, US media reports said.
According to Electrek, the company in July abandoned (officially put on hold) its massive US$1bn electric vehicle factory in Nevada after running into financial difficulties with the project on which US$174m is said to have been spent but nothing much more than grading done to date.
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In a statement, Faraday Future (FF) said it had signed a lease on its new manufacturing facility, and began the process of clean-up to prepare the new site for the move-in of manufacturing equipment.
The company acknowledged it had “recently announced that it was shifting its manufacturing focus to a turn-key facility that offers a faster path to production”. The new factory in Hanford, CA, is strategically located between the country’s two largest EV markets, Los Angeles and Silicon Valley.
“We know there is a lot of work and risks ahead, but this event represents a major step forward for the company,” said Stefan Krause, COO/CFO.
“Investors invest in people, and our employees continue to be Faraday Future’s strongest asset. As we begin this next phase in our company’s history, 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.”
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By GlobalDataOn 5 August, 300 employees and supporters drove voluntarily from Los Angeles to Hanford to begin the process of site clean-up.
Dag Reckhorn, Faraday Future’s head of global manufacturing, said: “Our new production facility is the latest demonstration of our commitment to getting FF 91 on the road by the end of 2018.” “Despite significant head winds on the path ahead of us, we are laser-focused on that one key milestone.”
The company said new leadership, headed by Krause (former CFO and board member of Deutsche Bank and BMW CFO) and Ulrich Kranz (former BMW executive responsible for the successful launch of i8, i3, Z3, and X5) as COO/CFO and CTO, respectively, the company is “driving strategic changes to get Faraday Future investible”.
Faraday Future will continue the process of site preparations, including planning, refurbishment, and permitting. Following the move-out of current tenants in late November, the company expects significant movement to ramp up on site in early 2018.
The facility is 1m square feet and will eventually employ up to 1,300 workers, over three shifts.
Electrek said the company had offered no update on its financial situation which was seen as precarious following several lawsuits over nonpayments earlier this year and the very public financial troubles of Jia Yueting, FF’s main backer.
Akshay Anand, executive analyst for Kelley Blue Book, said: “Faraday Future seems to be getting more serious about its vision. The new leadership has deep industry expertise and the company is focusing on the FF 91 model. Now, Faraday has admitted its Nevada site was a mistake and secured a facility that will be more cost effective and allow better speed to market. Given the rapid industry advances in electric vehicles, these are critical aspects for success. Faraday still has an uphill road given that producing a vehicle is a daunting task, and other electric vehicles are dominating the headlines, but at the very least, there is now some potential in a situation that was starting to look bleak.”
