As the new year is coming closer, California based startup Faraday Future has a lot riding on its shoulders. The company raised a **lot of expectations** early this year by announcing its big plans and even teasing a concept. Here is how the company has been rolling ever since its existence. LeEco partnership One of the biggest surprise was **investment by LeEco** . The Chinese tech and internet conglomerate had reportedly partnered with Faraday Future back in April, although there wasn’t any clear indication as to how or what exactly the collaboration is all about. LeEco at the same time has been working on its **own electric car LeSEE** which was showcased at a special event in China and then recently in the US. In the same month, Faraday Future had announced plans for its $1 billion manufacturing facility Nevada. State Governor Brian Sandoval, North Las Vegas mayor John Lee, and a bunch of other officials had attended the ‘ground-breaking’ inauguration ceremony where the construction for the facility was to begin. FFZERO1 Concept A couple of months back Faraday Future showcased a rather crazy looking concept. The FFZERO1 was an attempt by the company to make a super EV concept. While it only has one seat and zero doors, the company said that if it manages to put this concept into production, it will offer 1000bhp and a top speed of more than 320 kmph which means 0-100 kmph in less than three seconds. [caption id=“attachment_346751” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Image: ExtremeTech[/caption] Financial crisis While it seemed that things are in perspective, right after the company showcased its concept, a report from China Daily said that a Nevada State Treasurer Dan Schwartz was concerned about the fate of the company’s billion dollar plant which was planned to open in 2017. According to Schwartz, “The projects Jia invested in, including in China, seem very difficult for him personally to realise. If you look at Leshi (LeEco’s listed arm) it has roughly $6 billion in revenue, but it’s netting about $50 million. That profit margin is less than 1 percent … Grocery stores make 2 percent to 3 percent. It’s clear Mr Jia doesn’t have any money, it’s clear that Leshi isn’t making money. That’s the reason for my concern.” There was an official statement from Faraday Future saying that the work never came to a halt and that the first phase of construction was completed. With a target of shipping its first range of electric cars set at 2017, Faraday Future was yet again facing a big halt. The construction for company’s factory to produce the cars was paused. The company had delayed certain payment of bills that it owed to its construction partner. The shortage of funds from LeEco was probably the root cause. However, general contractor Aecom construction had confirmed that the construction work would resume by early 2017. Crossover Electric Vehicle The company is working on pushing out a crossover car with an electric motor. It could very well be a competition for the Tesle Model X. It recently sent out teaser posters confirming an announcement at the upcoming CES show in January. This means that their plans for pushing out its first production car is on track. But then again, the company still hasn’t confirmed if it is in high gear and meeting its deadlines.  What’s next? If Faraday Future wants to launch its production car in 2017, it really needs to ramp up its plans. Not only does it have to finish its production plant, it needs to figure out its financial plan. LeEco publicly announced that it is falling short on its flow of funds and relying on such a source for money seems a bit out of the way. It should start looking out for investors or just go for an IPO. Hopefully we will get to know more about Faraday Future’s plans once it showcases its upcoming crossover at CES 2017 on 3 January.
As the new year is coming closer, California based startup Faraday Future has a lot riding on its shoulders. The company raised a **lot of expectations** early this year by announcing its big plans and even teasing a concept. Here is how the company has been rolling ever since its existence. LeEco partnership One of the biggest surprise was **investment by LeEco** . The Chinese tech and internet conglomerate had reportedly partnered with Faraday Future back in April, although there wasn’t any clear indication as to how or what exactly the collaboration is all about.
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