Photo: Faraday Future
Faraday Future is a company that has almost nothing to show for itself yet. You might stand up and say "actually, there's that FFZERO1 concept," but nobody would even stop to acknowledge your intervention.
What it does have are big plans. The EV startup aims to build a $1 billion factory, much like Tesla's Gigafactory. It's also even located in Nevada. However, similarities end there because FF wants to use it for vehicle assembly as well, whereas Tesla's plant is only producing battery cells and packs.
It also seeks to launch its first product on the market: an electric crossover it's been teasing relentlessly over the past few weeks. From what we've gathered so far, it will be fast (faster than a Model X), it will be slightly smaller than Tesla's offering and a lot less ugly. It's also a lot less real, at the moment, which is something worth remembering.
The car is scheduled for a release next January, at CES 2017. It looks like the date is set in stone and nothing can happen that would change that, which is probably the only good news surrounding Faraday Future at the moment. Because other than that, its main backer, Chinese tycoon Jia Yueting is kind of broke, and the contractor for its factory has stopped working due to unpaid bills worth millions.
Faraday Future doesn't think these are aspects worth fretting about, despite the fact those bills are now more than one-month-old and no plan to solve them has been announced. But since the company is hoping to attract new investors after the January 3 event, it's only natural that it wants to maintain a cool appearance.
Much like Elon Musk, Faraday Future used Twitter to express its disdain over two articles published by two news websites where the financial status of the startup was put to question. "Skepticism and negativity only strengthens our conviction to redefine sustainable mobility. Decide for yourself on Jan 3rd," read one message, while the second went like this: "Media pessimism is standard fare for disruptors. Deliberate negative info from press and competitors is the welcomed risk of innovation."
What the company fails to understand is that the only reason we're upset about it is that we fear it will fail. Most people want Faraday Future to succeed. Even Tesla, arguably its immediate competitor, has said on numerous occasions that it would like to see more EV manufacturers on the market, while the big companies hardly see FF as a threat.
There is no agenda against Faraday Future, it's just that at this point, given the information at hand, things don't look too promising for the startup funded by Jia Yueting. And in this funding - or rather the lack of it - is where the problem lies. Hopefully, the vehicle itself will turn out to be so great that all these problems will eventually go away.
It also seeks to launch its first product on the market: an electric crossover it's been teasing relentlessly over the past few weeks. From what we've gathered so far, it will be fast (faster than a Model X), it will be slightly smaller than Tesla's offering and a lot less ugly. It's also a lot less real, at the moment, which is something worth remembering.
The car is scheduled for a release next January, at CES 2017. It looks like the date is set in stone and nothing can happen that would change that, which is probably the only good news surrounding Faraday Future at the moment. Because other than that, its main backer, Chinese tycoon Jia Yueting is kind of broke, and the contractor for its factory has stopped working due to unpaid bills worth millions.
Faraday Future doesn't think these are aspects worth fretting about, despite the fact those bills are now more than one-month-old and no plan to solve them has been announced. But since the company is hoping to attract new investors after the January 3 event, it's only natural that it wants to maintain a cool appearance.
Much like Elon Musk, Faraday Future used Twitter to express its disdain over two articles published by two news websites where the financial status of the startup was put to question. "Skepticism and negativity only strengthens our conviction to redefine sustainable mobility. Decide for yourself on Jan 3rd," read one message, while the second went like this: "Media pessimism is standard fare for disruptors. Deliberate negative info from press and competitors is the welcomed risk of innovation."
What the company fails to understand is that the only reason we're upset about it is that we fear it will fail. Most people want Faraday Future to succeed. Even Tesla, arguably its immediate competitor, has said on numerous occasions that it would like to see more EV manufacturers on the market, while the big companies hardly see FF as a threat.
There is no agenda against Faraday Future, it's just that at this point, given the information at hand, things don't look too promising for the startup funded by Jia Yueting. And in this funding - or rather the lack of it - is where the problem lies. Hopefully, the vehicle itself will turn out to be so great that all these problems will eventually go away.
Skepticism and negativity only strengthens our conviction to redefine sustainable mobility. Decide for yourself on Jan 3rd. #CES2017 pic.twitter.com/cjKSD5gROa
— Faraday Future (@FaradayFuture) December 20, 2016
Google News