Text | Ray Technology Leitech
Countless times it was about to be put into production and blew out, and not a single mass-produced car left the factory. How long can such a car company last? The answer is that Faraday's future has lasted 9 years.
Of course,$Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. (FFIE.US)$The situation they are facing is very difficult. Investors have lost their confidence. Shorting companies want to get rid of it; only mass production of products can save this company.
On March 30, 2023, Faraday Future launched the FF91 Futurist live press event. Executives such as FF Global CEO Chen Xuefeng, FF founder and CPUO (Chief Product and User Officer; Jia Yueting gave him the title of revitalization), and officially announced that FF91 Futurist was put into mass production. The first batch of products is expected to go offline in early April and be delivered to users by the end of April.
Prior to delivery, Faraday Future will hold a final press conference on April 26, US time. FF91 is offered in three versions, namely Standard Edition, Futurist Edition (Futurist), and Futurist League Edition. Of these, FF91 has not yet started pre-orders, and the deposit for the latter two models is 20,000 yuan and 50,000 yuan respectively.
The model is open for pre-orders; is it true that Faraday's future FF91 Futurist will be mass-produced?The official announcement failed to dispel doubts; is FF91 actually mass-produced?
Since Faraday has skipped tickets many times before, it is still difficult for many netizens to believe after the official announcement that it was put into operation this time. In particular, after the pictures from the press conference came out, there were numerous voices of questioning.The first point that netizens questioned was that no actual car was shown at the press conference, only one frame, and the second point was that Faraday did not show video or photo materials of the production line in the future, which made it difficult to gain the trust of consumers.
Netizens' concerns are not without reason. At the beginning of last year, Faraday Future held a press conference and claimed that production would begin in the fall, but as a result, the fall cars were missing. After that, Faraday Future also stated that there were insufficient funds and publicly recruited investors. What Xiaolei didn't expect was that there were actually people who actually dared to continue investing in Faraday's future.
On February 1, 2021, Faraday's future stock price once reached 20.75 US dollars per share, with a market capitalization exceeding 12.3 billion US dollars, which is even higher than the current monthly sales of Xiaopeng Motors of around 10,000 cars. Listed companies without a product sales base are bound to be unsustainable. After Faraday experienced its peak in the future, it soon reached a low point, and stocks plummeted continuously.
At the end of 2021, Faraday Future was attacked by the shorting agency J Capital Research. The agency published a 28-page shorting report, which determined that Faraday could not produce any cars in the future. As of today, Faraday's future market value is only 269 million US dollars, a sharp drop of about 98% over the previous year.
Judging from Faraday's current situation in the future, if mass-produced models can no longer be released, I'm afraid it will not be far from bankruptcy. At the beginning of this year, Faraday Future once again officially announced that FF91 would be put into production, but instead of drawing the flatbread until a few months later, like last year, it bluntly stated that it would be put into production at the end of March and delivered in April.
Coupled with Faraday's future fund-raising behavior some time ago, and Faraday Future's signing of a “Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement” with Huanggang City, Hubei, and plans to establish the China Head Office in Huanggang, Jia Yueting is either preparing the final vote or is actually going to mass produce.
A hen that lays golden eggs requires careful care. The cost is higher, and the harvest will naturally be higher. If there really is an opportunity for mass production, Xiaolei believes that Jia Yueting would also like the FF91 to be mass-produced. After all, what man doesn't dream of a car?
Taken together, Faraday will probably start mass production in the future, but it's hard to say how much production capacity it will have. I'm afraid a month will have double to triple digit production capacity. For Faraday's future, compared to mass production, how to sell is probably the biggest problem.Will FF91 still be competitive in 2023?
According to official reports, the FF91 Futurist is expected to sell for around 250,000 US dollars (about 1.72 million yuan), the engine power is as high as 1,050 horsepower, the EPA has a range of 381 miles (note: EPA battery life is the maximum mileage at a uniform speed of 60 kilometers per hour; 381 miles is 613 kilometers), and the zero hundred acceleration time is 2.39 seconds, supporting advanced assisted driving, smart internet, zero gravity seats and many other functions.
As a comparison, Xiaolei took a look at the configuration of the modified Porsche Taycan 2022 TaycanTurbo S, which is about the same price as it. The engine of this car can provide 762 horsepower, a range of 475 kilometers under CLTC conditions, and an acceleration time of 2.8 seconds to zero to 100. It also supports assisted driving. The power and intelligent features don't seem to be ahead of FF91 Futurist. It is even said that it is lagging behind, especially in terms of battery life.
If the FF91 Futurist configuration is true and the price can be cheaper, Xiaolei believes that this car will have a certain market. It can sell for 1.72 million yuan. The power, battery life, and other intelligent configurations are not as good as the same thing — brand value.
Faraday's future has no foundation, no audience, and the market also has many established giants such as Ferrari, Maybach, Bentley, and Porsche. Perhaps those car companies' new energy vehicles can only be considered “miscellaneous vehicles,” but influenced by brand value, they can still attract many consumers.
Instead, there is no foundation for Faraday's future; it's really difficult to compete with those giants. Not to mention the future of Faraday, it is difficult even for Tesla to hold on to this price. Product sales mainly come from Model 3 and Model Y.
The era of new energy vehicles is indeed an excellent time for new car builders to hit the high-end. The product configurations and functions of traditional car companies are difficult to break the gap with the new car builders. Instead, many of the new car builders that originally developed in the Internet industry at senior levels rely on their keen sense of smell and long-term experience in dealing with consumers to better understand what consumers need.
As a result, many new car builders at home and abroad are based on the high-end. For example, after domestic NIO, Ideal, and established car companies entered the NEV field, they also launched a number of sub-brands to develop into the high-end, such as Geely Galaxy and Changan UNI. However, if you take a close look at these brands that have impacted the high-end, most of their products sell for 250,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan, and not a single brain shock to the high-end, because the senior management of these car companies knows that it will be difficult for them to compete with established giants in the high-end market for the time being.
Even BYD, the global sales champion of new energy vehicles, hit the high-end market only when its sub-brand launched multiple models in a row. Although the Million Luxury Car Brand Aiming has been released, the details are still being deployed, and there is no rush at all.BYD understood that only by stabilizing the 250,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan market, managing brand value carefully, and climbing up step by step, it is possible to achieve success; one bite does not make you fat.
In mid-2022, Faraday's future financial report showed that FF91 received only 401 orders one year after the subscription began. Relying on these orders is simply not enough to support Faraday's normal future development. Even if FF91 Futurist goes into mass production, it is unlikely that revenue balance will be achieved within ten years. New energy vehicles have already entered a golden period of development, and there is not much time left for Faraday in the future. How many financiers are willing to bear at least ten years, and maybe even endless losses?
For Faraday's future, the best option now may be to find an established car company to buy itself, and then use the financial strength and brand value of the established car company to open up sales channels for their products.
Being acquired was the final and helpless choice of the new car builders. If it were not in a desperate situation, Faraday would probably not want to follow this path in the future. Faraday also has another option in the future. That is to make slightly lower priced products and gradually sink the market to 250,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan to reach more audiences.
Although Faraday's future has not gained popularity in the 250,000-500,000 yuan market, Jia Yueting once had quite a few fans and always hoped that he could return home. These people might be willing to buy Faraday's future products, provided the products aren't too expensive.
Faraday's future cooperation with Huanggang City is estimated to be to produce automobiles nearby, reduce costs, and develop the two major automobile markets in China and the US at the same time. It seems that it won't take long for domestic consumers to have a chance to buy Faraday's future products.