Faraday Future Reports on Jia Yueting's Status in the States
Xu Wei
DATE:  Jul 18 2017
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Faraday Future Reports on Jia Yueting's Status in the States Faraday Future Reports on Jia Yueting's Status in the States

(Yicai Global) July 18 -- The debt crisis of Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp. Beijing [SHE:300104] has recently made the firm a hot topic of discussion.

The nebulous financing prospects of Faraday & Future Inc. (FF), the US electric vehicle maker in which Leshi founder Jia Yueting has invested, have aroused public concerns.

Most importantly for Jia Yueting in Los Angeles, in addition to financing, is to greet world-class executives who will join the FF, a senior executive who earlier declined to be named disclosed, as Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday. This world-class executive is none other than the father of the BMW i-series, Ulrich Kranz, Yicai Global has since learned.

About a report on Jia Yueting's "many mansions in the US," the company said the properties were the reception office for "Leshi cars," and they were used as "temporary houses before other  houses were found" for executives.

"The Leshi car reception is both for Leshi and FF executives," the firm said.

In respect to FF's financing, The company is considering raising USD1 billion through A round financing to ensure FF91 debuts in 2018, FF's chief financial officer Stefan Krause, told reporters.

Jia Yueting is a major investor in FF, but as Leshi has recently fallen into a debt crisis with its investors, it is highly doubtful that FF will be able to meet its financing targets. A statement from FF said the company expects to complete its USD500 million funding target by this year's third quarter, with the rest planned to be in place by early next year, stressing that "Jia Yueting is the main investor in FF and is therefore not able to disclose other potential investors' information."

In addition to capital, FF's factory-building program in the US is also a major concern. Last November, there were reports that FF was unable to pay for the project on schedule, and the construction of the electric vehicle plant consequently stopped. After that, media reported that FF had "given up and stopped" building its factory in the western US state of Nevada.

On July 11, FF and Jia Yueting separately issued a statement that said that to ensure the timely delivery of products, FF91 factory will relocate to the site, and fully transform the existing plant and promote equipment procurement to achieve mass production as soon as possible. In addition, FF will continue to retain the factory plots in the Apex Industrial Park factory just to the north of Las Vegas, and the construction plan will be "adjusted from three phases to two."

The company said the original construction plan for the North Las Vegas Apex factory was formerly envisaged in three phases, with the first phase intended to be built for production of the FF91, with the subsequent phases to be used for production expansion. The company only moved the first phase of the original plan to another location to fully ensure on-schedule delivery of the FF91, while the site and land for the Las Vegas plant will continue to be retained for phase two and three, and "long-term manufacturing plans that have never changed."

FF decided to "suspend" construction of the Industrial Park plant in the North Las Vegas Apex and continue to retain ownership to the block, while continuing to commit to achieving  long-term car production plan in Las Vegas, Krause said.

FF said Jia Yueting was unwilling to accept an interview at present, per the report.

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Keywords:   FF,Leshi,Jia Yueting,Auto