Faraday Future delays the production of its first model saying it needs cash urgently

Written by Cláudio Afonso | info@claudio-afonso.com | LinkedIn | Twitter

EV startup Faraday Future Intelligent Electric filed a 8-K form Monday saying it will delay the start of production and the first deliveries of the FF91, the first model for the California-based company. The mass production was scheduled to start this month and are now delayed to the third quarter or the fourth quarter of the year depending on when the company can secure additional funds.

Faraday Future says it is in negotiations to raise additional capital to “fund production activities through the end of 2022 and beyond”. In addition, the company updated the Investors Presentation — check it here.

“Due to recent supply chain issues, start of production and first deliveries of the Company’s FF 91 flagship electric vehicle in the United States are now expected to commence in the third or fourth quarter of 2022. The Company needs additional cash to commercially launch the FF 91, and is currently seeking to raise additional capital to fund its operations through December 31, 2022.

The Company’s cash needs after the launch of the FF 91 will depend on the extent to which the Company’s actual costs vary from the Company’s estimates and the Company’s ability to control these costs and raise additional funds.

Any challenges in supplier engagements, delays in ramping capacity or labor at the Company’s Hanford, California manufacturing facility or for sales and service engagements, rising prices of materials, or ongoing global supply chain disruptions may further increase the need for additional capital to launch the FF 91 series.

Apart from the FF 91 series, substantial additional capital will be required to fund operations, research, development, and design efforts for future vehicles,” the company said.

Last Friday, the stock tumbled more than 40% to $1.95 during the first minutes of the session giving the company a Market share value of around $650 million. The EV startup — that in March had only 401 preorders for its first model — has been struggling with internal issues namely the removal of Brian Krolicki from the Board of Directors.

From the first day of June until July 18 the stock price increased by 208% from $2.52 to $7.84 reaching a new 8-month high after being named one of the candidates for a short squeeze. Since then, the stock has been shorted in high

In a 13-D filing form filed on Monday, the major shareholder FF Top reiterated that the Board of Directors “is not treating FF Top’s proposal with the gravity, urgency and fairness it deserves”

Recently, FF Top Holding (which is a major shareholder of Faraday Future) delivered a notice of removal of the Top Designee Brian Krolicki from the Board of Directors. Krolicki was the 33rd Lieutenant Governor of Nevada (from 2007 to 2015) and a Board member of Faraday Future since April 2020.

FF Top said recently it has attempted to address the Board of Directors of the EV maker for the “concerns regarding the performance and direction of FFIE under the Board’s leadership” and “hopes that FFIE will constructively engage with FF Top and FFIE’s other shareholders to address these concerns”.

“In addition, FF Top hopes that FFIE complies with its obligations under the Shareholder Agreement to facilitate the removal of Mr. Krolicki and the appointment of Li Han as his replacement,” FF Top wrote.

In early June, Faraday Future announced that selected Cerence’s AI-powered text-to-speech (TTS) technology to enable natural, human-like communication for the in-car assistant in its FF 91 ultra-luxury electric vehicle, set to start production in Q3 2022. With Cerence TTS, the FF 91’s voice assistant delivers information and responds to prompts – ranging from news and weather to point-of-interest details, navigation, parking, and fuel.