#5月财经新势力 #
Jia Yueting, who "returned to China next week", began to regain his life again.
At the press conference on May 31, Jia Yueting announced that Faraday Future's first production car, the FF91, has officially entered the delivery stage, priced at 309,000 US dollars (about 2.195 million yuan).
For this car, the positioning given by Boss Jia is "Ferrari + Maybach" in the era of smart trams.
From the establishment of Faraday Future in 2014 to the announcement of the delivery stage now, Jia Yueting has been holding back for 9 years, and he has not even seen the shadow of the car for the first 8 years.
Until this year, FF91, which was pinned on all hopes by Boss Jia, finally entered the delivery stage.
At the press conference, Boss Jia was full of confidence, although it was difficult to hide the vicissitudes, he still showed a taste of lying down and tasting the courage and hard work.
In the words of Boss Jia himself at the press conference:
"Traditional ultra-luxury cars represented by Ferrari, Maybach and Rolls-Royce may seem like they are in their most glorious era, but the real disruption is coming."
As always, it was inflammatory, and Boss Jia's ability to tell stories had to be convinced.
It seems that Faraday Future is really the future of the automotive industry, and it is also the brilliant future of Boss Jia.
On the day of the conference, he also interacted warmly with Li Xiang online, like the founder of the industry.
But the problem is that "returning to China next week" has been shouting for more than 3 years, this time FF91 official announcement is about to be delivered, can Boss Jia really come back?
26 billion burned in 9 years, "mass production" of 40 vehicles
Some time ago, Faraday Future revealed that the Hanford plant is working hard to climb production capacity and has produced 40 new FF91 cars.
According to the data, FF91's total financing scale is close to 4 billion US dollars (about 26 billion yuan), which is more than NIO and ideal financing combined.
However, 9 years later, FF91 has just officially entered the delivery stage.
And the delivery announced at this press conference is full of "Jia's" style.
According to the information disclosed by the media, the FF91 delivery is divided into 3 phases, which began on May 31, only the first phase of delivery.
At this stage, consumers defined by Boss Jia as an industry expert FPO (Futurist Product Officer) need to pay the FF91 in full in order to book the vehicle and receive training in its use.
In other words, you give me the money first, wait for me to produce it, and then deliver it, properly "privately made".
The second stage is the "FPO co-creation phase", where all FPOs pay for the vehicle in full and then wait for the vehicle to be delivered.
Finally, the third stage can be the turn of other ordinary car buyers, and similarly, they need to pay the full price of the car and then continue to wait.
It's okay to buy a car in full, but the point is that Faraday Future doesn't disclose the specific delivery time at all, just let you pay first.
At the press conference, no matter how big the car is, what is the point of consumers not being able to mention the car?
Therefore, this weird press conference is like another pie for investors:
I have already built the car, and I will start delivering, but the production capacity is still almost meaningful, or will you raise some money for me first?
FF91 "Get up early and catch up late"
In 2016, Jia Yueting planned the future path of LeEco as the "Seven Ecosystems of LeEco", playing with the set of "platform + content + hardware + software + application".
Nine years ago, FF91's avant-garde design, Internet concept and ultra-high configuration may really be able to make people "suffocate for their dreams" as Jia Yueting said.
But now it is 2023, after years of development, new energy vehicles have moved from starting to mature, and people's eyes have long been polished by the new forces of "Wei Xiaoli" to be extremely harsh.
FF91 claims what big screen, 5G communication, smart cockpit, are all leftovers for everyone to play.
Even the "ecology" that Jia Yueting was proud of before has now been tired of being played by competitors.
For example, Tesla's software payment, NIO's membership point system, and even Huawei has entered the automotive field and is gradually building its own "ecosystem".
It can be said that Jia Yueting and his FF91 completely got up early and rushed a late set.
Boss Jia wants to gain a place in the "super cutting-edge" market with FF91, and there is still a long way to go.
Boss Jia, can you return to China next week?
According to media statistics, Jia Yueting still has nearly $3 billion in debt.
According to the debt restructuring plan announced by Jia Yueting after going to the United States in 2020, Jia Yueting took out about half of the Faraday Future equity he held and set up a trust fund to repay it.
To pay off that money, a conservative estimate would require Faraday's future market cap of $20 billion.
But Faraday Future's current market capitalization is only $280 million.
And to make matters worse, FF91 had a whopping $83 million in quarterly expenses, net income of only $6.5 million, and net cash for operating activities of $103 million, compared to only $33 million on Faraday Future's books.
With Faraday's current financial situation, it is still a big unknown whether the next delivery of FF91 can be completed.
In 2016, Jia Yueting exploded public opinion with "LeEco Super Car", at that time he represented the national car-making spirit of "overtaking on curves".
But just one year later, LeEco fell into the crisis of breaking the capital chain, and Jia Yueting also changed into a much-despised "old lai".
Until Jia Yueting flew to the United States in 2020, "returning to China next week" became a label that he could no longer tear off.
When exactly Boss Jia returned to China has become an "unsolved mystery" in the Internet industry.
Although FF91, which is now expected by Boss Jia, has entered the delivery stage, there are still 108,000 miles before it is truly successful, and Boss Jia's "return to China next week" is still far away.
Written at the end:
Get up early in the morning and catch up late, Boss Jia wants to pay off his debts with FF91 and completely turn over, and he may need a miracle.
Although there is never a shortage of miracles in business, it is more of a farce, and it is really a bit difficult for Boss Jia to "return to China next week".