Financing, building factories, mass-producing models, opening experience stores... this is the routine car sales process for new car-making forces.
Jia Yueting, who has always wanted to race against time, took an unconventional path and took the lead in opening an experience store before mass production of vehicles.
On May 25 (May 24, US time), Faraday Future (hereinafter referred to as FF) announced that the first FF Futurist Experience Center has settled in Manhattan, New York, USA.
This is also the world’s first experience center independently operated by Faraday Future. The completion of the center means that the public can see and experience the smart electric vehicle FF91 in New York for the first time.
Faraday Future FF91 New York Experience Center Store, Source: Daily Economic News
FF China staff said that the model will be launched and delivered within one year after the company’s successful IPO. "The specific launch time of FF91 has not yet been determined." Faraday Future said that the FF Futurist Experience Center will be open to the public until after the company goes public. According to the plan to start delivering FF91 within 12 months after the merger with PSAC, FF91 is expected to be delivered in the first half of 2022.
Not only that, two days later, the U.S. SEC website disclosed again that PSAC had submitted a new version of the 8-K document to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), "indicating that PSAC and FF have completed the audit process for their merger and listing. , this is an important step before going public," an internal employee of a leading securities firm revealed to Wired Travel.
Unlike in the past, where FF only had bad news, since entering 2021, FF has frequently released good news.
In January 2021, Jia Yueting once again appeared in the public eye and announced that Faraday Future and the special purpose acquisition company PSAC (a special purpose acquisition company SPAC) had reached a final agreement on a business merger. The merger agreement is expected to be Transaction to close in the second quarter of 2021. Upon completion of the transaction, Faraday Future will trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "FFIE."
In addition, according to Sina Finance, FF also received financing from the Zhuhai State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission this year, and received OEM support from Geely and Foxconn.
However, relevant media personnel from the Zhuhai State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission told The Paper that there are currently no matters to be disclosed regarding the investment in FF.
Although in the automotive field, compared to Xiaomi and Didi who responded "slowly", Jia Yueting planned a "broad road" for LeTV's automotive ecological development as early as 2014. But as LeTV fell into a quagmire and Jia Yueting lost his job in the United States, Faraday Future's car-making road has been "stuck in the quagmire."
Today, Jia Yueting has been pinning his hopes for a comeback on building cars. However, even if the current FF91 is mass-produced, the once advanced technology is already outdated, not to mention that it will face competition from a number of Internet car manufacturers and traditional car companies. Even if FF91 is mass-produced in the future, will it still be competitive?
Before the car was mass-produced, Jia Yueting first opened an offline experience store for FF91.
Although the first experience center was opened in New York this time, according to the Daily Economic News, plans for FF91 test drive activities and other aspects are still uncertain.
An insider close to FF China also said that Faraday Future is subject to financial constraints and Faraday Future has not yet deployed a large-scale experience center in New York. After the official opening of the New York Manhattan Experience Center, Faraday Future will set up a temporary showroom in the New York business district in the form of a pop-up store.
As for the reason why the experience center was opened in New York, FF Global CEO Breitfeld explained: "FF91 is a product that defines high-performance ultra-luxury electric vehicles. It has set up an experience center for drivers and passengers." "New Benchmark" "The New York area is not only an important market for electric vehicles, but also an important market for luxury cars."
In his view, "FF Futurist Experience Center is a place where the public can interact with FF's products." An excellent way."
FF91 is being manufactured, source: Faraday Future official website
But this moment, compared to other car manufacturers, comes a little later.
Since this year, Internet giants such as Baidu, Xiaomi, and Didi have successively "joined the war" in this industry, announcing that they will join as vehicle manufacturers, while Alibaba, Apple, and Huawei will join as suppliers with traditional Cooperation with car companies.
In the eyes of many people in the automobile industry, today’s smart electric vehicles are the new code of wealth. Jia Yueting has been talking about his dream of building a car for seven years, and now he has just come to the forefront. The fate of FF91's "difficult delivery" seems to have been foreshadowed since the founding of FF.
In 2014, Jia Yueting founded Faraday Future when LeTV was at its peak, and then embarked on a road of twists and turns and "difficulty" in building cars. After experiencing the financial crisis of China LeTV and the huge cost of building cars, FF officially released its first electric car FF91 in Las Vegas, USA on January 4, 2017. At that time, it was announced that delivery of the cars would begin in 2018. At the same time, the turning point of Jia Yueting's dream of building a car also appeared this year.
At the end of 2017, The Paper reported that FF America had only one employee clocking in and there was no production equipment in the factory.
Then, the delivery schedule of FF91 began to change again and again. In 2019, it was changed to "only the last step" before mass production. In September 2020, Breit Fukang, the "father of BMW i8", succeeded Jia Yueting as FF global CEO and promised to "use his personality to guarantee that FF91 can be mass-produced and delivered on time in September this year." In the end, he was severely slapped in the face.
Who is the "difficult childbirth" FF91? Similar to Tesla’s route, Faraday Future sets the FF91 as a high-end product to start. As the flagship product of Faraday Future, judging from the official data released, FF91 is known as a "suffocating car". From the beginning of the design, it has been positioned at the luxury and high-performance level, claiming to provide users with the most perfect experience.
FF91 interior, picture source Faraday Future official website
In terms of vehicle configuration, FF adopts a three-motor design. The 130 kWh battery pack is the powerful "heart" of FF91. The peak power can reach 783 kilowatts and 1050 horsepower, making it the most powerful electric vehicle power system in the world.
This system allowed the FF91 to achieve an industry-leading cruising range of approximately 378 miles (approximately 608 kilometers) in the US Environmental Protection Agency test. This means that one charge is more than enough to travel from Los Angeles to Silicon Valley. The 0-100km acceleration time of FF91 is less than 2.4 seconds, which is said to "surpass the acceleration of gravity."
And according to FF’s official information, FF’s three electricity (battery, motor, and electronic control) technologies are all independently developed. The official website of FF also lists the “Faraday Future Ladder Inverter” that has obtained the U.S. patent Patent news.
Breitfeld is even more proud, admitting that FF has the most advanced three-electric system in the market: the energy density of the motor is the highest in the entire industry, the battery technology is also the most advanced, and the cells are all directly connected In the coolant, each battery cell can be cooled very well. This allows extremely high power input and output, which means permanently extremely high charging power and can be charged very quickly.
Not only that, in the first half of this year, FF91 was recently upgraded with more passenger-centered features. It is reported that rear passengers of FF91 can control the 27-inch rear passenger display screen (RSD) of FF91 through simple voice commands, including screen lifting and in-car video conferencing during driving.
In addition to the hardware, the software settings of FF91 are also very technological, with a total of 36 sensing devices, imitating the multi-layered emergency system of aviation travel to ensure the safety of passengers. In addition, it also supports unmanned valet parking function, multiple modems to support high-speed Internet access on the way, etc.
The latest news about the mass production time of FF91 is that in March 2021, FF stated that FF is advancing towards the final stage of product testing planning and has completed the second round of winter testing and experiments, laying the foundation for the on-time production of FF91. Prepare for release. Moreover, its first mass-produced model FF91 will also be launched for sale in the first half of 2022.
After a series of ups and downs, FF has now survived and is preparing to go public.
However, if the domestic car-making forces are ranked according to the entry time, Jia Yueting was among the earliest ones, but became the last "dreamkeeper" to take the road of car-making.
Until 2021, Jia Yueting, who was "suffocated by his dreams", "returned" again and made big noise in the market. There is triple good news surrounding FF: it will submit SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition) listing materials, FF has reached a strategic cooperation with Geely, and will receive 2 billion yuan in financing.
On January 27, according to Sina Technology, two major groups, led by the Zhuhai State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Gree and Huafa, invested 2 billion yuan in Faraday Future, founded by Jia Yueting. Immediately afterwards, Geely issued an announcement saying that it had signed a cooperation agreement with FF, and Foxconn *** will manufacture for FF, and plans to invest 30 to 40 million US dollars in FF.
One day later, FF announced that it would complete its merger with the US special acquisition company SPAC and prepare to seek a backdoor US stock listing in the second quarter.
Geely Holding Group and Faraday Future signed a framework cooperation agreement, picture source Geely Holding Group WeChat official account
One thing that has attracted much attention from the outside world is that from 2017 to the present, under Jia Yueting’s personal name There have been nearly 30 execution messages, and the debt exceeds 7 billion yuan. In addition, he has not returned to China for many years, which has given the outside world an extremely negative impression of Jia Yueting.
Therefore, the focus of the outside world is also focused on issues such as who is the actual controller of FF, why FF can obtain new financing, and how FF, which has not launched a product for 4 years, can gain the trust of investors.
With so many doubts, some answers may be found among the investors and partners of FF’s listing this time.
Compared with before, the team of financing helpers in 2021 is much larger than before-Zhuhai State-owned Assets, Huafa, Geely and Gree. The most eye-catching thing is Geely. Geely's life in 2020 is not "auspicious". Although Geely has developed rapidly after acquiring Volvo, it has always been on the fringe in the new energy vehicle market.
According to Geely Automobile's Hong Kong stock announcement, Geely Automobile's sales in 2020 were 1.3202 million vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 3%; new energy vehicles and electrified products accounted for only 5% of the total sales of 1.32 million. At the same time, Geely Automobile's 2020 semi-annual report data shows that Geely's net profit fell by nearly half year-on-year in the first half of the year.
Therefore, the double decline in sales and performance has forced Geely to transform. Geely made it clear in its announcement on FF cooperation in January this year that it participated in a small amount of investment in FF's listing as a financial investor, while providing talent and technology and supporting it in an OEM role. This also means that Geely does not only play the role of foundry.
As for the reasons why Zhuhai State-owned Assets is considering investing in FF, a person who has been engaged in the automobile industry for many years once analyzed to Geek Park. Now, both the secondary market and ordinary consumers have felt the huge changes in the automobile industry. Chance. However, there is a lack of good targets in the market under the epidemic environment. Chinese companies that have not yet been listed include WM Motor, Gaohe, Leopao, etc., and two companies with Chinese and overseas elements include Byton and FF. The first three companies all have sufficient funds or local government support. Byton has also received support from Foxconn to restart. FF may become a cake targeted by the capital market.
"New Energy Vehicle Investment and Financing Data Report in the Past Ten Years" released by "An Enterprise Information Inquiry Platform", source of the picture is "An Enterprise Information Inquiry Platform"
In addition, the Hefei Government has In less than a year after NIO’s 7 billion investment in “Heroes Save America”, it has achieved more than 100 billion in revenue, allowing other local governments to see the positive results of investing in the new energy vehicle industry. Therefore, in the face of FF's financing needs, Zhuhai regards Faraday Future as its ticket to enter the new energy industry and wants to be the second Hefei. It is worth noting that Gree Group and Huafa Group are both enterprises under the Zhuhai State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.
Another level of relationship is that there is indeed a substantive connection between FF and Zhuhai.
According to Tianyancha, on December 14, 2020, FF established a new company "Fafa Automobile (Zhuhai) Co., Ltd." in Zhuhai. Legal representative Jia Chentao In addition to serving as executive director and manager, Jia Chentao also serves as a supervisor of LeTV Ecological Automobile (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd.
Picture source "A certain enterprise information query platform"
Since this year, more companies have provided help for Jia Yueting to build cars, but even if Jia Yueting received "assistance" from many parties, he successfully mass-produced FF91 , how competitive is this car still today? Does the FF91’s stunning and advanced design still have advantages now?
For new car manufacturers, factory construction, new car release, mass production, and delivery are all key factors in considering the company's execution capabilities.
FF technology is indeed very hard, especially in the three core technologies of electric vehicles, software, artificial intelligence and the Internet. The patent advantages are extremely obvious. At present, it has obtained more than 500 technology patents for new energy vehicles.
FF91 undergoing high-cold testing, picture source Jia Yueting’s public account
But now the new car-making forces have achieved mass production, and Weilai, Xiaopeng, and Tesla have produced several car, occupying a certain market share. So how does FF compete with other new energy vehicles?
According to FF official information, in terms of appearance, FF is equipped with a closed front face with through-type LED light sets and a streamlined model frame; in terms of interior, according to relevant media reports, it has 11 screens. It also integrates the Internet of Vehicles and artificial intelligence systems; in terms of performance, FF claims that the car has a drive motor of up to 1,050 horsepower and an acceleration time of only 2.39 seconds from 100 kilometers; in addition, in terms of battery life, it is equipped with a 130kwh battery provided by LG Chem. Power battery, with a cruising range of over 700 kilometers under NEDC conditions.
If these configuration conditions are placed in a market where few new energy vehicles could mass-produce two or three years ago, FF may have some competitive advantages. But judging from the current hot market, there is no longer much competitiveness.
FF91 interior, picture source Faraday Future official website
A practitioner in the field of automotive travel once analyzed connected travel, "In terms of power battery and battery life, FF91 is not What advantage does it have, because Tesla, Weilai and other car companies have released new battery plans and have pushed the battery life to 1,000 kilometers. ”
When it comes to intelligent and autonomous driving, FF has already launched. Being "cut off" by many players. At present, "star" players such as Tesla, NIO, Xpeng and Ideal have emerged, and technology giants such as Alibaba, Baidu and Huawei have joined hands with traditional car companies to come to the forefront and gather together to build cars.
Another point worth noting is that FF is suspected of having been confusing the concept of mass-produced cars.
When FF released the FF91 in January 2017, it called it a "mass production car", which caused an uproar in the automotive industry at the time. Many people in the industry believed that the FF91 was only an engineering prototype (ET) at that time, but the engineering prototype was still far away from mass production.
Then, on December 9, 2020, Jia Yueting posted on social media: "The FF91 pre-production vehicle has been assembled and will join the existing test team to help continue to promote the FF 91 project." According to the observation of the pre-production car video officially displayed by FF, the "pre-production car" mentioned by Jia Yueting is not produced on the production line, but is almost "assembled" by hand. Even the new car factory looks like a small workshop, not where the factory production line is located.
Even in the recently opened New York Experience Center store, test drive services are not publicly available.
Many experts in the automotive field have publicly expressed their opinions, saying that mass production of FF91 is an almost impossible task. Because its configuration functions are advanced, suppliers may have insufficient capabilities, and parts production cannot keep up with the progress, etc., making mass production almost impossible.
Nowadays, the new energy vehicle "Dongfeng" continues to strengthen. In the next one or two years, new energy mass-produced vehicles on the Internet platform may also be launched one after another, and the competition will become more intense.
As an industry insider stated in an interview with Securities Daily: "The core of the second half of new energy vehicle manufacturing is still the product itself."
Although FF has repeatedly conveyed signals that it is expected to complete mass production, it has been Emphasizing the reliability of its technology and products, it called the FF91 the "Tesla killer", but Tesla's cumulative sales by the end of last year exceeded 110,000 vehicles.
From this aspect, FF91 is already a big step too late. Jia Yueting's idea is very good, but in the turbulent new energy vehicle market, it can be said that he "got up early and rushed to the market late."