Faraday Future to Relocate China Headquarters as Financial Troubles Persist

Faraday Future, a California-based smart electric mobility firm, on January 18 announced that it has reached a non-binding cooperative framework agreement with the city of Huanggang in China’s Hubei Province, intended to promote its US-China dual-home market strategy.

Faraday Future also plans to relocate its China headquarters to Huanggang, while maintaining global headquarters in Los Angeles. The China headquarters is expected to be jointly funded by the Huanggang local government’s guide fund, industrial fund, and Faraday Future itself.

Hubei Province holds a prominent position in the Chinese automotive industry, producing 2.1 million vehicles in 2021, accounting for over 8% of domestic auto production. That year, Hubei ranked seventh in terms of GDP among the 31 Chinese provinces and municipalities.

On January 17, Faraday Future’s Weibo account published an image with the words “Return Home,” triggering speculation that its founder, Jia Yueting, was about to come back to China. Jia previously founded LeEco, a technology and web services conglomerate. In January 2017, the FF 91 vehicle was released. However, with LeEco in the midst of a financial crisis, Faraday Future also fell into dire straits. In July 2017, Jia left the Chinese mainland for the United States, becoming the global CEO of Faraday Future in December of the same year. In July 2020, Jia announced the completion of personal bankruptcy reorganization and no longer held Faraday Future equity.

Last November, Faraday Future appointed its China CEO, Chen Xuefeng, as Global CEO amid a declining performance. Chen was tasked with delivering the FF 91 Futurist to market, delivering on a promise made to stockholders, investors, global partners, consumers and employees.

The company expects to start production of a salable FF 91 Futurist vehicle by the end of March 2023, coming off the assembly line in early April and commencing deliveries by the end of that month. The company has completed the sixth manufacturing milestone for the FF 91 Futurist, namely the completion of construction and equipment installation in vehicle assembly areas.

Faraday Future will launch its FF 91, FF 81, and FF 71 models throughout the next five years, and the latter two will be put into production as the main models for the Chinese market.

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However, a warning from the Nasdaq about a potential delisting now poses a tough problem for Faraday Future. On January 4, the company received a warning letter from the Nasdaq because it had not held an annual general meeting for shareholders within 12 months after the end of the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021, breaching requirements for its continued listing. “Preparations for the shareholders’ voting power of attorney at the annual general meeting have been basically completed, and the final list of directors that need to be reviewed has been basically confirmed,” Faraday Future claimed in a statement. “The time of the meeting will be announced soon.”