Who reserved a Faraday Future FF 91?

[FlatSix911]

Well, this could be the last nail in the coffin for FF ...

Faraday Future’s new FF91 electric vehicle will cost ‘less than $300,000’, says CEO Jia Yueting

In an interview (Chinese), Jia said that the FF91 will cost “less than 200 million Chinese Yuan”, which is the equivalent of $290,000 USD.
He said that in China, therefore, the price could be significantly different in the US, but it’s still a good indication that previous speculation could be well below the actual price. There’s not a big market for vehicles with a $200,000 to $300,000 price range and it will be interesting to see what will come of it.

Of course, it’s not even clear yet how they will bring the vehicle to market and how they will pay for it. Construction work for the planned factory in North Las Vegas has been delayed following late payments and while Jia has raised more money to finance his electric vehicle ambitions, financial troubles have been reported ahead of the unveiling of the vehicle. Nonetheless, he reiterates that Faraday plans to bring the FF91 to market in 2018, which sounds unlikely, but we will give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

 

[trayloader]

There´s no nail in the coffin, since they were never real.
It was a covered operation by a smart individual.
Porbably backed by his country but´we´ll never know.

His price burp is as cynic as could be.
A slap in the face for everyone involved.
Time for TRUMP to finally do something meaningful.
Short fingers off Twitter keys….CIA enters escalator...

 

[BluestarE3]

Of course, it’s not even clear yet how they will bring the vehicle to market and how they will pay for it. Construction work for the planned factory in North Las Vegas has been delayed following late payments

No need for a big factory in the desert. If the car does get built, at a cool quarter million a pop or more, there won't be many takers, so they can be hand built in a much smaller facility. Or built in China, where it's target market presumably is.

 

[BluestarE3]

64K reservations in 36 hours. Wonder how many were paid? Faraday Future says it has received over 64,000 reservations for its FF 91 electric vehicle in 36 hours

Only around 60 of the 64,000 reservations were paid:
Faraday Future, once seen as a 'Tesla-killer,' is said to be in shambles as cash runs low and executives flee

Wonder how many of those 60 were by employees or other insiders? The overwhelming majority of those "reservations" were just free clicks on their website by anybody.

Well, from the poll results above, I'm glad no one here plunked down any cash.

 

[Dan Detweiler]

Wow, only 60 paid reservations?

OUCH!!!

Dan

 

[FlatSix911]

Tesla Model S P100D runs a 0-60mph in 2.389-sec after ‘Ludicrous+’ update and throws cold water on Faraday Future

 

[xmetal]

Only around 60 of the 64,000 reservations were paid:
Faraday Future, once seen as a 'Tesla-killer,' is said to be in shambles as cash runs low and executives flee

I knew that would be the case, and with the car now rumored to be over the $200k mark, I cannot see any viable way that this company will survive. Yes, there are some very wealthy people that want an EV, but those people will already have a pimped out Tesla and the China owned shadiness of FF doesn't help. FF has no factory (and honestly, how on Earth can they build a massive factory AND the cars before 2018?). With 1000+ employee salaries flying out the door (even if you make them pathetic salaries), no income, and massive outlays for construction/engineering/materials/etc it would be miraculous if anything real ever happens.

Tesla started out with an expensive car, and only sold a handful of them at the beginning, but they weren't trying to build a billion-dollar factory at the time, which rather makes sense. FF is trying to viciously force itself to make something, and I bet it will die as a result.

 

[RobStark]

Evidently, shady quasi capital controls instituted recently be the Chinese government is preventing Jia from sending checks to FF from China.

It needs to get loans against the cash it has in China from Western institutions or raise capital from non-Chinese investors. Both options look unlikely.

Maybe Tesla can pick up some solid engineers?

 

[RacerX]

Wow, only 60 paid reservations?

OUCH!!!

Dan

I was almost number 61.
But I'm taking a watchful waiting approach.
I'll just wait to see what comes to market.

 

[BluestarE3]

Tesla Model S P100D runs a 0-60mph in 2.389-sec after ‘Ludicrous+’ update and throws cold water on Faraday Future

That's the problem with using a single metric to represent their best-in-everything claim. Much of the reveal was devoted to showing drag race videos, the on-stage one-car-at-a-time acceleration demo and then having the presenter brag about how quick their car is. They did demo autopark, but that was only 50/50 successful. All those other great connectivity and AI features (the "new species" stuff) were only talked about since they didn't really have anything to show along those lines. It's far easier to slap together a one-of-a-kind stripped down car that can go stupid fast.

Unfortunately for them, it just took an over-the-air software update for Tesla to reclaim the 0-60 crown (not that that's really that important overall). And without that single demonstrable advantage, they haven't a leg to stand on anymore.

 

[BluestarE3]

I knew that would be the case, and with the car now rumored to be over the $200k mark, I cannot see any viable way that this company will survive. Yes, there are some very wealthy people that want an EV, but those people will already have a pimped out Tesla and the China owned shadiness of FF doesn't help. FF has no factory (and honestly, how on Earth can they build a massive factory AND the cars before 2018?). With 1000+ employee salaries flying out the door (even if you make them pathetic salaries), no income, and massive outlays for construction/engineering/materials/etc it would be miraculous if anything real ever happens.

Tesla started out with an expensive car, and only sold a handful of them at the beginning, but they weren't trying to build a billion-dollar factory at the time, which rather makes sense. FF is trying to viciously force itself to make something, and I bet it will die as a result.

I guess they can regroup as an "exotic" car marque and become a much smaller company, with a much smaller factory and produce a small number of hand-built cars each year. Forget about a product line with multiple car models for different market segments. Not sure Nick Sampson's chip on his shoulder about besting Tesla or Jia Yueting's hubris would allow them to consider such an option. According to the Business Insider article, Jia was presented an option to build a smaller factory, but he chose the more expensive one. And he told FF to go full steam ahead with their spending while only being able to fund about 10% of what the company needed.

 

[UnbeknownstToAll]

Yet, they bragged about beating a Tesla.

 

[JohnSnowNW]

Unfortunately for them, it just took an over-the-air software update for Tesla to reclaim the 0-60 crown (not that that's really that important overall). And without that single demonstrable advantage, they haven't a leg to stand on anymore.

FF never had the crown though. Even at the reveal they were claiming that they had the fastest "production vehicle"...which was obviously fallacious. Not only is their vehicle not a production vehicle, but they were passing off a stripped vehicle like it was a fair comparison.

I can't see how the American arm of the company was in charge of marketing. US companies certainly employ a certain amount of overstatement, but FF relies solely on overstatement.

 

[BluestarE3]

FF never had the crown though. Even at the reveal they were claiming that they had the fastest "production vehicle"...which was obviously fallacious. Not only is their vehicle not a production vehicle, but they were passing off a stripped vehicle like it was a fair comparison.

Oh, I know, it was never an apples-to-apples comparison. However, some headlines were proclaiming that the FF91 had usurped Tesla. After this update, there's no question which car is quicker, regardless of spin or stacking the deck.

I can't see how the American arm of the company was in charge of marketing. US companies certainly employ a certain amount of overstatement, but FF relies solely on overstatement.

If FF had used some of the money they spent on their hype-machine on the car or factory instead, they might be further ahead. In a post-CES interview, Sampson said they had to pick-and-choose where to use their limited funds, so they opted to stop work on the factory and use the money on CES instead.

 

[EVie'sDad]

option #4 - did not reserve, due to it being vaporware. not street-legal, and one $300,000.00 prototype does not make a 'Tesla Killer'.

Faraday Future FF91 could be very,...

 

[EVie'sDad]

option #4 - did not reserve, due to it being vaporware. not street-legal, and one $300,000.00 prototype does not make a 'Tesla Killer'.

Faraday Future FF91 could be very,...

"Faraday Future, once seen as a 'Tesla-killer,' is said to be in shambles as cash runs low and executives flee
Business Insider - ‎21 hours ago‎
Faraday Future Jia Yueting Nick Sampson LeEco CEO YT Jia, left, and Faraday Future SVP Nick Sampson unveil Faraday Future's FF 91 prototype at CES 2017 in Las Vegas. Ethan Miller/Getty Images). Faraday Future, the electric-car startup once hyped as ..."

"Faraday Future 'In Shambles'
According to a lengthy report by Business Insider on the state of Faraday Future, interviews with eight unnamed people with knowledge of the business of the electric car company revealed that Faraday Future was "in shambles," with over a half-dozen senior executives leaving since last year's spring. One of these executives was the company's global CEO, who vacated his position right before CES 2017.

The people that Business Insider interviewed, who are made up of former and current insiders of Faraday Future, revealed that the company's debt has ballooned to millions of dollars. In addition, the corporate structure between the United States and China operations was described as "chaotic."

The most immediate challenge that Faraday Future is facing, according to the insiders, is the company's shortage of cash. One of the sources said that, if the company's showing in CES 2017 is not able to attract new investors, Faraday Future might close down between February and May this year."

 

[UnbeknownstToAll]

"Faraday Future, once seen as a 'Tesla-killer,' is said to be in shambles as cash runs low and executives flee
Business Insider - ‎21 hours ago‎
Faraday Future Jia Yueting Nick Sampson LeEco CEO YT Jia, left, and Faraday Future SVP Nick Sampson unveil Faraday Future's FF 91 prototype at CES 2017 in Las Vegas. Ethan Miller/Getty Images). Faraday Future, the electric-car startup once hyped as ..."

"Faraday Future 'In Shambles'
According to a lengthy report by Business Insider on the state of Faraday Future, interviews with eight unnamed people with knowledge of the business of the electric car company revealed that Faraday Future was "in shambles," with over a half-dozen senior executives leaving since last year's spring. One of these executives was the company's global CEO, who vacated his position right before CES 2017.

The people that Business Insider interviewed, who are made up of former and current insiders of Faraday Future, revealed that the company's debt has ballooned to millions of dollars. In addition, the corporate structure between the United States and China operations was described as "chaotic."

The most immediate challenge that Faraday Future is facing, according to the insiders, is the company's shortage of cash. One of the sources said that, if the company's showing in CES 2017 is not able to attract new investors, Faraday Future might close down between February and May this year."

Indeed, look up Everything wrong with Faraday Future's "Tesla Killer" on Youtube. It does a really good job of laying out the details.

 

[EVie'sDad]

Looks like the news just keeps getting worse and worse as the days pass.

Report: Faraday Future close to bankruptcy

Faraday Future FF91 An Illusion? Company Faces Huge Debt, Possible Production Cancellation

 

[BluestarE3]

Looks like the news just keeps getting worse and worse as the days pass.

Report: Faraday Future close to bankruptcy

Faraday Future FF91 An Illusion? Company Faces Huge Debt, Possible Production Cancellation

Both those links refer to the same Business Insider article referenced upthread. But, yes, things are not looking good.

 

[cman8]

I wish Tesla would sneak a driver into my Model S to help it find those parking spots. More miss than hit when relying on Tesla for autopark. I have AP 1.0 so maybe AP 2.0 will have reliable autopark.

Autopark is a waste IMHO. until the AP2.0 can find a spot on its own, its much faster and easier to park yourself. You have to be really bad at parking a car to not be able to do it yourself.