(Yicai Global) June 19 -- Shares in Faraday Future plummeted in after-hours trading after the smart car company set up in the US by Chinese businessman Jia Yueting once again pushed back the delivery date of its first car to consumers and asked shareholders to approve a reverse share split to raise USD300 million in a new funding plan.

Faraday Future’s share price [NASDAQ:FFIE] plunged 37.7 percent to USD0.28 in after-hours trading. The stock is now in the danger zone as the Nasdaq requires that share prices do not stay below USD1 per share for a long time.

Faraday Future is postponing the second phase of deliveries from the end of June to the end of August due to suppliers’ supply time constraints and the need for further safety tests of the FF91’s unique features, the California-based company said on June 16.

The carmaker said last month that the first FF91s will start rolling off the production line on May 31 in the first phase of delivery, but that these models will only be for industry experts, namely Futurist Product Officers, who will be trained on how to use them.

The FF91 is said to be different from regular models, which means owners must accept Faraday Future’s training to have the technical ability to use the car before it is sold to them. Faraday Future calls these owners FPOs.

In the second phase of the delivery, all FPOs will pay the purchase price in full and will own the FF91 models.

And it will be in the third phase that Faraday Future will actually deliver the FF91 to customers. However, Faraday Future did not disclose when the third phase will start, only pointing out that the company will focus on delivering FF91s to the US market by the end of 2023.

This is at least the fifth delay in two years and each time Faraday Future puts its hand out and asks for more money. This time the carmaker is asking shareholders to approve a reverse split, where new shares are exchanged for old shares according to the proportion of the split, to raise USD300 million to accelerate production of the FF91 2.0.

Faraday Future’s move aims to reduce the number of existing shares and increase the value per share. The split would be in the range of between 1:2 and 1:9 and the final ratio will be determined by the Board of Directors upon shareholders’ approval, it said. The move will not affect shareholders’ percentage of ownership or voting rights. No further details were given.

Editor: Kim Taylor