EV company is launching a second brand. . .perhaps

By Gary S. Vasilash

If there was an ROI for persistence, Faraday Future would have a market cap that would rival Tesla’s.

The company—which says it is developing AIEVs, as in “advanced intelligent electric vehicles”—first showed off a vehicle at CES, the FFZERO1, in 2016.

The following year, again at CES, the FF 91, its first “production” model was shown.

Apparently, what happens in Vegas really does stay in Vegas, because it has taken a long time for there to be any Faraday Future product on roads not associated with a glitzy intro.

In 2023 the company reportedly sold four FF 91s and leased six.

For the entire year.

The Faraday Future website allows the preordering of the FF 91 2.0 Futurist Alliance, a name that sounds like it comes out of some Star Wars knockoff.

It has a range of 381 miles, a top speed of 155 mph, and there will be just 300 produced. Globally.

The base price?

$309,000.

Although it is not an AIEV, I suspect that the Rolls-Royce Wraith might be an even more exotic expenditure of ~$300K.

But back to persistence.

Faraday Future has announced that it is hiring for a second brand, Faraday X.

Positions including production planning director and head of vehicle engineering.

The second brand is meant to create vehicles that offer “twice the performance at half the price”—but half the price of things that aren’t the FF 91 2.0 Futurist Alliance.

The FX 5 model will have an “expected price range” of $20,000 to $30,000. The FX 6 will be at $30,000 to $50,000.

There will be two powertrain types: a range-extended EV and a battery electric.

Faraday Future anticipates the vehicles will be in production by the end of 2025—“subject to securing necessary funding.”

Because building electric vehicles costs lots and lots of money

By Gary S. Vasilash

This doesn’t sound good:

“LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. (“Faraday Future” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: FFIE), a California-based global shared intelligent electric mobility ecosystem company, filed a Form 12b-25 notifying the SEC that it is unable to file its Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2021 within the prescribed time period, and does not expect to file it by the extended filing date pursuant to Rule 12b-25. The Company is also unable to file its amended Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-258993) (the “Form S-1/A”) at this time.”

But maybe that’s just a financial maneuver that has little to do with the actual development of the FF 91 vehicle, which the company says it “remains on track” to deliver to initial customers in July 2022.

However, the company has established a “special committee of independent directors to review allegations of inaccurate disclosures.”

Meaning financial things gone potentially awry.

The company is building a plant in Hanford, California, for the vehicle. It says that during Q3 it completed its first major milestone there, which is the installation of pilot equipment in the pre-production build area. It seems that if they’re going to be delivering production vehicles in little more than eight months, the “pilot” and “pre-production” are going to have to give way to the actual stuff.

And after Q3 it hit its second milestone, obtaining its “Certificate of Occupancy, which allows the Company to begin building additional pre-production vehicles for final testing and validation.”

The company is taking reservations for the FF 91 Futurist, which it descrbies as its “class defining, 1,050 hp and a revolutionary user experience designed to create a mobile, connected and luxurious third internet living space.”

Except for the 1,050 hp, it sounds like a cross between an Airstream and a Starbucks.