After four bounces, Faraday Future's FF 91 Futurist finally ushered in the dawn of mass production. Recently, Faraday Future (FF) officially issued a statement that FF will hold the FF 91 Futurist Production Start-up (SOP) ceremony. From this information, it can be guessed that Jia Yueting has received funds from investors.
It can now be said to be the closest thing to the FF 91 Futurist dream of mass production. FF's positioning of FF 91 Futurist is also more than $100,000, benchmarking brands such as Ferrari and Maybach, so after the arrival of this car, can it help FF squeeze into the camp of ultra-luxury brands?
It's been a bumpy road, a journey forward
In order to get to the step of mass production of FF 91 Futurist, FF can be said to have used the power of flooding. This is a new force brand established in 2016, FF 91 Futurist is the brand's first model, as early as 2018, Evergrande, a big funder, after injecting 800 million US dollars, it plans to start mass production of FF 91 Futurist, which can eventually break up between the two sides.
Subsequently, the mass production and launch plan of FF 91 Futurist was delayed again and again, and from 2018 to 2022, although Boss Jia came out every year to stand for the mass production launch time of FF 91 Futurist, but every year the ticket will be skipped, and the reason is that there is no capital for production. According to statistics, in order to realize the dream of car manufacturing, FF's cumulative loss in four years from 2019 to 2022 has reached 1,358.1 million US dollars. Among them, the net loss in 2021 was US$517 million, the net loss in 2020 was US$147 million, and the net loss in 2019 was US$142 million. FF's net loss in fiscal 2022 was US$552.1 million (approximately RMB3.8 billion), an increase of US$35.6 million compared to a net loss of US$516.5 million in FY2021.
It is reported that after FF broke up with Evergrande, Boss Jia contacted many gold owners, but almost all the gold owners did not show sincerity, so Boss Jia had to sell the headquarters building and lease it in exchange for cash flow in order to continue FF's life. It can be said that Boss Jia's road to car building is bumpier than that of the bosses of major domestic new car companies.
But the sun is always after the storm, entering 2023, FF has brought good news time and time again, on February 6, FF announced a financing of $135 million, so this round of financing, together with the $33.4 million FF received after the FF Global Investor Business Update Conference held last December, has received all the financial commitments required to mass-produce FF 91 Futurist SOP. You know, FF has revealed that the additional funds required for mass production of the FF 91 Futurist model are about 150 million to 170 million US dollars. In addition, FF has also reached a cooperation agreement with the Huanggang Municipal Government to locate FF China headquarters in Huanggang City.
With funding in place, mass production of the FF 91 Futurist is on the agenda, with the new car to start production at the end of March this year, the first cars to roll off the assembly line in early April 2023 and delivered to customers by the end of April 2023. In addition, FF also said that the final launch of the FF 91 Futurist will be held on April 26, 2023 US time before the first vehicles are delivered to users.
The challenges ahead are obvious
Once, Boss Jia gave the FF 91 Futurist the goal of subverting traditional ultra-luxury brands such as Maybach, Ferrari, and Bentley. From the perspective of new car pricing, the FF 91 Futurist can indeed be on par with ultra-luxury brands. In addition, the FF 91 Futurist also has a good performance in terms of product strength.
The car is equipped with anti-gravity seats, the rear row can also be fully reclined, and the occupants can lie down and rest. In addition, the seats also have heating and massage functions, the roof is equipped with glass that can actively adjust the light transmittance, and the multiple pads equipped in the car can complete functions such as mobile office, audio and video entertainment, game shopping and so on. In terms of performance, the vehicle accelerates from 0-60 mph in 2.39 seconds, can output 1050 horsepower, can travel 300+ miles on a single charge, and has a cruising range of up to 700 kilometers under NEDC conditions.
Such a degree of luxury and performance has great advantages over the traditional fuel vehicles of ultra-luxury brands, but compared with the products of the new force car companies, the design of FF 91 Futurist is undoubtedly somewhat conventional, and the domestic new force models not only have the same, but even better configuration performance, and even lower prices, such as the price of the HiPhi Z is only 700,000.
Not only that, the competition between new car companies is more multi-dimensional, not only with product power, but also with services. At present, in order to solve the pain points of users, many new force car companies often build their own supercharging sites or power stations, so as to thoroughly interpret the user's anxiety, and the energy replenishment method will also be a major weapon for new force car companies to compete in the market. If FF cannot provide corresponding services, it means that the market competitiveness is difficult to match with competitors.
Car network comment: high mountains and flowing water, reborn from the ashes
Over the past few years, Faraday Future has experienced some ups and downs and challenges. At the beginning of 2021, the company's capital chain was broken and faced a bankruptcy crisis. However, with the help of a series of efforts and capital support, Faraday Future eventually overcame the crisis and was able to continue operating.
No company's entrepreneurial road will be smooth, and Jia Yueting's Faraday Future is no exception. However, it is also a skill that Jia Yueting can survive until now after owing a huge debt, and FF 91 Futurist energy production is also a good thing, it is reported that as of November 17, 2022, Faraday Future has received 369 pre-sale orders for FF 91 Futurist. I only hope that this time Jia Yueting's mass production will no longer bounce tickets.