A few days ago, the negative Faraday Future (hereinafter referred to as "FF") finally ushered in a good news. FF officially announced a contract with Myoung Shin, which will start production of FF's second electric model, the FF 81, in South Korea in 2024. At the same time, Faraday Future also announced that it plans to start mass production of FF 91 in the third quarter of 2022.
According to public information, Myoung Shin is an auto parts supplier and vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Gunsan, South Korea. It has factories in South Korea, the United States, China and other countries, has a large-scale and flexible production capacity, and has continuously provided core components for Daimler, Hyundai Kia, Renault-Nissan, Tesla and other world-renowned car companies in the past 40 years.
The contract shows that Myoung Shin will provide sufficient production capacity and capacity for FF 81 in accordance with Faraday's future production expectations. It is understood that although FF 81 is still mainly smart and luxurious, in order to achieve volume in a short period of time and cover the market on a large scale, the price of this new car will explore the range of 300,000 yuan, and its product positioning will be much lower than that of FF 91, which is priced at millions.
This FF 81 is not the other FF 81
FF listing documents show that its FF 91 as a benchmark Rolls-Royce, Maybach flagship model starting price has been as high as 180,000 US dollars, this pricing plus taxes, the total cost of the country is expected to reach about 2 million yuan. Such a high price is doomed to FF 91 is only suitable for standing on the altar, its product strength is strong, its audience can not make FF profitable.
Therefore, FF must continue to launch lower-end, capable models after FF 91. In fact, FF does plan relatively low-end stepped product lines such as FF 81 and FF 71. However, in Xiao Lei's view, the future FF 81 produced by the Myoung Shin factory will definitely not be the FF 81 originally planned by FF.
Although the FF 91, FF 81, FF71 and other models were not clearly marked in the previous product planning, we can see the irrationality as long as we analyze it a little.
Xiao Lei has made predictions about the product price of FF, FF91 as a flagship model, it is mainly responsible for supporting brand driving, mainly attacking the market above the level of 1 million yuan, FF81 is responsible for the price range of 70-1 million yuan, and FF71 is responsible for the price range of 400,000-700,000 yuan.
At this point, these three models can form a complete high-end automotive product line. In the future, if you need to develop low-end models, then FF only needs to continue to extend according to this law and launch FF 61 and FF 51.
According to XiaoLei's previous prediction law, if the positioning of FF81 is not second only to FF 91, but directly into the 300,000 yuan level, which is currently the most competitive high-end electric vehicle price range, then its future FF 71 model must not directly compete with Wuling Hongguang MINI EV? If this is the case, then the high-end advantages established by FF with FF 91 and tens of billions of funds in recent years will be wiped out in an instant.
The reason why FF will position FF 81 at the level of 300,000 yuan, and change the mass production mode of FF 91 and use the OEM mode for mass production, mainly because FF, which has internal and external difficulties, lacks financial support. It needs both a model that can move quickly to stimulate market confidence in it, and a cost and financial pressure to be transferred through the FOUNDC model.
The 300,000 FF 81 is a double-edged sword
In Xiao Lei's view, the hastily launched FF 81 is like a double-edged sword, which may alleviate the urgent needs of FF, or it may be a self-digging move.
Xiao Lei believes that the reason why FF has lowered the positioning of FF 81 to the level of 300,000 yuan is mainly that the high-end automobile market at this price point has become nearly mature, and FF 81 can save a lot of trial and error space when launching an attack on this market. It should be known that at present, many car companies have explored the new energy vehicle market in the 300,000 yuan price range, and there have been many successful cases.
Facts have proved that whether it is the BYD Han EV under the traditional car company, or the Xiaopeng P7 among the new car-making forces, whether it is a pure electric vehicle or a range-extending hybrid model led by the ideal ONE, there are good sales performance in this price segment.
On the other hand, the pricing of FF 81 300,000 yuan also means that FF will go off the altar and go to consumers. You know, the previous FF product planning was formulated under the circumstances of a good situation, but now the situation is stronger than people. FF's previous product planning is not suitable for FF at this stage, so if it wants to get out of the predicament and seek a way to live, it must put down its body.
As for the disadvantages brought about by the FF 81 pricing of 300,000, it is mainly reflected in the two levels of brand and product.
At the brand level, Xiao Lei believes that the FF 81, priced at 300,000 yuan, will directly destroy the high-end soul of FF. You know, in the launch of the two models from FF 91 to 300,000 or so sold from 1.15 million to about 300,000, the most seriously injured is the FF 91 user, and the FF 91 user is FF's most die-hard fan and staunch supporter. It is no exaggeration to say that compared with the investors of FF, FF 91 users are the ones who use banknotes to accompany FF through the darkest moments.
For FF 91 users, they are either die-hard fans who accompany Lao Jia to dream together, or they may really believe Lao Jia's lies at the beginning of the order, thinking that the FF brand can kick Ferrari in power and beat Rolls-Royce in luxury.
However, the FF 81, which costs only about 300,000 yuan, slapped them in the face fiercely, telling them that the final target of FF may only be Weilai and Xiaopeng, which originally made them disdainful of the new car-making forces, and they are just leeks that are harvested by FF.
From the product level, this FF 81 positioned at about 300,000 does not meet the previous FF product planning. Obviously, from the current point of view, this model is the product of FF's temporary attachment to the predicament before it is eager to launch. In Xiao Lei's view, a product that has not been carefully crafted and hastily launched is difficult to gain competitiveness in the fiercely competitive price range of 300,000 yuan.
It should be known that FF 81 will not be mass-produced and listed until 2024 at the earliest, and its competitors' product strength will be more mature after several years of development. Whether from the perspective of brand awareness or the maturity of finished products, the 2024 Han EV, the 2024 Xiaopeng G9, or the latest products from more big factories will be more popular choices for consumers.
In addition, even if Myoung Shin really has the strength to help FF 81 achieve mass production in 2024, the current domestic and external difficulties and the turbulent FF may not be able to persist until 2024.
Whether FF can survive until 2024 is still unknown
If FF wants to survive until 2024, its first task is to deliver the mass production of its first model, FF 91, as scheduled. According to FF CEO Bi Fukang's listing date in July 2021, FF will deliver the first FF 91 in the 9th month after listing and achieve mass production in the 12th month. This also means that FF will achieve large-scale mass production deliveries in July this year. In Xiao Lei's view, whether the mass production of FF 91 in July is like a big test for FF.
If it can be done, even if the revenue brought by the three hundred valid orders of this model to FF is like a dime, it will enhance the confidence of investors and consumers in it externally, and can also enhance the morale of FF internally.
According to common sense, "delivery on time" is not a high requirement, but for today's FF, Xiao Lei thinks it is a bit hanging.
You know, FF 91 was originally planned to complete mass production in 2018, and now even if it can achieve "delivery on schedule" in July 2022, it has meant that the delivery time of this car has been delayed by 4 years. Therefore, in the eyes of many people, "delivery on schedule" is as unreliable as "returning to China next week" in the mouth of FF founder Jia Yueting.
In addition, at the online investor communication meeting on December 8, 2021, FF showed the progress of its factory construction for the first time. It is understood that until December, FF's Hanford plant in California has just completed the installation of production equipment for quasi-mass production vehicles and obtained production qualifications.
In Bi Fukang's view, this may be a gratifying progress, but in Xiao Lei's view, such progress is not fast enough. It should be known that the installation of production equipment and the acquisition of production qualifications are only the basic conditions for a factory to have the ability.
After the production equipment is installed, it takes time and effort to commission the equipment, and it also needs to be tested after the car is mass-produced. All in all, if you want to complete the mass production delivery on schedule, FF has to work harder.
In addition, before the listing of FF, some experts said that the market value after the listing of FF is expected to reach 400 billion yuan, and it may even become a unicorn with a market value of trillions. However, the post-listing FF successfully swollen the expert's face. Although FF completed its listing on July 22, 2021, its situation in the stock market is not optimistic.
FF's market capitalization reached $4.51 billion on the day of listing, but it is also the highest market capitalization since its listing. Today, FF's market capitalization has fallen to $1.379 billion. It can be seen that FF not only failed to obtain funds in the stock market, but lost the $3 billion it invested when it went public.
In Xiao Lei's view, whether FF 91 can be delivered on schedule has become one of the few market value growth points for FF in the stock market, and if this much-anticipated model can be delivered on schedule, then its market value has the possibility of rising. Conversely, FF may even face the risk of delisting after one year of listing.
summary
Impacting the low-end market is the only way for any high-end brand to achieve volume. Therefore, the 300,000 yuan class model will definitely appear in FF's product planning. However, according to FF's previous product planning, FF81 will never be a 300,000-yuan model, and now the emergence of this FF81 has disrupted all of FF's previous product planning layouts.
FF81 may be able to save FF from fire and water, but whether the crisis-ridden FF can survive the mass production of FF81 in 2024 is still a problem. Therefore, in Xiao Lei's view, what FF has to do at present is obscene development, life preservation is important, do not wave.
Note: The material for this article comes from the Internet