Evergrande Health Industry Group Ltd, which owns a 45 percent stake in U.S.-based Faraday Future, said Tuesday that the electric vehicle startup has officially moved its headquarters to China. The group claims Faraday now plans on building five R&D and production facilities across the country over the next decade.
The intended goal is to have the startup reach an annual production capacity of 5 million vehicles within 10 years and launch multiple “premium to entry-level segments for the global auto market, to build an internet-based intelligent mobility ecosystem,” Evergrande said.
It sounds a little premature for a company that managed to evade certain death by the skin of its teeth — and only just snagged a manufacturing facility — a few months ago.
While the startup has supposedly begun assembly on the FF91 in the United States, we’ve yet to see a single finished example of the crossover — just a body in white. But now it’s promising new models, like the smaller FF81, and a production volume that could be understated as ludicrously ambitious.
The new headquarters, called Evergrande FF Intelligent Automotive (China) Co., Ltd, will be responsible for technology research and development, as well as all of the production, operation and management of FF in China. This creates a bit of confusion, though. The investment holding company previously changed the name of Ruichi Intelligent Vehicle Co., a Chinese subsidiary, to “Evergrande Faraday Future.” However, the American-based FF is also supposed to expand into China as a separate entity and has now officially set up an HQ there.
While the corporate structuring of Faraday has always been incredibly difficult to follow, it became worse after Evergrande Group purchased its 45 percent stake last June as part of the holding company’s diversification strategy into the tech sector. Faraday’s ties to LeEco’s LeSEE are beyond muddled, despite both companies sharing the same chairman (Jia Yueting) and co-developing technologies. But now there is also a subsidiary based in China that’s also using the Faraday name.
The automaker’s new Chinese headquarters opened on the same day as the announcement (August 14th), which seems odd. But production at its facility in Hanford, California is supposed to humming along. We’ll see if that turned out to be true in a few months and, hopefully, be able to parse out how Evergrande organized everything.
[Image: Faraday Future]
Wouldnt it be odd if FF are producing the volume that Tesla promised in ten years while Tesla is out of business?
Chinese currency vs Saudi currency, two US companies going at a similar target market and the US government rattling sabers for at least two more years…this is going to get more interesting for the next little while. Anyone want to lay bets on how many jobs and how much value the private sector can destroy between now and 2028?
“Wouldnt it be odd if FF are producing the volume that Tesla promised in ten years while Tesla is out of business?”
Yes, that would be odd, and it’s not going to happen. FF’s shenanigans make Tesla look like an old, stable, stodgy company.
I had written ‘delightfully odd’ but decided that would seem to take pleasure in other people’ ruin, ie when their jobs go away. But I meant this circus is a big part of the reason the younger generation is learning that capitalism is good in theory but not as much in communism, err, practice.
With that prediction, they should change the name of the company to Faraway Future.
(Where’s the number for my stockbroker? This looks like a sure thing!)
Five mirion kahs! Ten rears!
Ambitious, if nothing else!
So they stole all required technology and done with US? I bet they left some engineers to steal more.
This sounds like a great big con.
The photo looks like “car of the future” from 1975.
Company’s Motto:
“Never allow reality to interfere with your wet dreams.”