Chinese automotive start-up Faraday Future has scored a high-level hire with the employment of former BMW i division chief, Ulrich Kranz. Earlier reports of Faraday’s financial difficulties surfaced late last year, and the Chinese entrepreneur-backed company will be hoping to secure some stability with the addition of Kranz as chief technology officer, who has charted over 30 years at the German marque.
This comes after reports of Faraday’s scrapping of plans for its proposed US$1 billion (RM4.28 billion) plant in Nevada, United States, which appears to be the latest in a line of difficulties facing the cash-strapped LeEco, under which Faraday resides.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held in April for what was to be the Nevada plant for the FF 91, and a statement from the company last week followed saying that factory plans have been “put on hold as we shift our business strategy to position the company as the leader in user-ship personal mobility,” according to a report by The Telegraph.
“As a result of this shift in direction, we are in the process of identifying a manufacturing facility that presents a faster path to start-of-production and aligns with future strategic options,” the company statement added. Before this, Faraday has also hired ex-Deutsche Bank and former BMW executive Stefan Krause as chief financial officer, with the task of finding new backers to raise funds.
The latest developments will be key to the growth of not just Faraday itself, but also that of an Aston Martin project; the British sportscar maker has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Faraday parent LeEco towards developing the RapidE EV concept into a series production model. Like the RapidE, the FF 91 is slated for a 2018 production start.
GALLERY: Faraday Future FF 91
GALLERY: Aston Martin RapidE concept
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With negative news all around, Faraday Future might turn into Faraway Future, or worst, no future at all.
Because traditional internal combustion engine automotive syndicates are trying hard to spread fake news to bring down EV startup companies.