Faraday Future Denies Rumors of Founder Jia Yueting’s Return to China

News emerged on February 15 that Jia Yueting, founder of EV maker Faraday Future, was about to return to China from New York on February 18 on China Eastern Airlines’ flight MU5171. The report was later denied by Faraday Future.

Media outlet Sina Tech reported that people close to Jia said that Jia had been living in Los Angeles, and even if he does return home, he will take a direct flight from Los Angeles to Beijing. People close to Faraday Future also revealed that Jia is now pushing forward the mass production of new vehicles in the United States in a down-to-earth manner, which is aimed at boosting the company’s confidence.

Faraday Future debuted on the Nasdaq by way of a SPAC merger in July 2021. After listing, it encountered many delisting risks and the management team underwent several changes. After Jia and his team regained control of Faraday Future in September last year, they made a change in the management team, in which Chen Xuefeng succeeded Carsten Breitfeld as global CEO.

On February 14, Faraday Future held a car pick-up ceremony in Shanghai, welcoming the latest FF 91 Futurist quasi-production car produced by the factory in Hanford, California to China. The company expects to start production of the saleable FF 91 Futurist by the end of March, with delivery beginning in April. But one premise is that the company can receive investors’ funds within the expected time in the future.

Faraday Future announced on February 6 that it had reached financing worth $135 million. As of February 9, it had received the first full down payment of $50 million.

Since 2014, the mass production of Faraday Future’s first model has been postponed many times, and whether its competitiveness can keep up with the rapid development of the EV industry has also been in question. Faraday Future has placed the FF 91 Futurist as a rival to luxury cars such as Ferrari, Maybach, Rolls Royce and Bentley. The car has 1050 horsepower, a cruising range of 381 miles and an acceleration time of 2.27 seconds from 0 to 60 miles/h.

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Faraday Future is actively promoting dual development in China and the United States. In China, it announced on January 18 that it has reached a non-binding cooperation framework agreement with Huanggang City, Hubei Province, and plans to move its Chinese headquarters to the city while retaining its global headquarters in Los Angeles.