Jia Yueting has deceived the United States: The new MPV is exposed to be a relabeled domestic Chinese car. The orders exceeded 10,000 within an hour. He just received a 700 - million - yuan financing and then got a warning letter.
Unexpectedly, it's already been 11 years, and there's still a new story about Jia Yueting's car - making venture.
Eight years after the debut of the previous model, the FF 91, Faraday Future (FF) recently held a press conference in the United States for the first MPV of its second brand.
What's even more unexpected is that there are still people listening to his story and even investing real money. During the one - hour live broadcast of the press conference, the company revealed that the number of orders had exceeded 10,000.
But this new car looks so familiar. It seems like I've seen it in China?
What new car did Lao Jia launch in the United States?
Jia Yueting, the founder of FF, who still hasn't given up on car - making, recently held a press conference for the first MPV of the company's second brand, Faraday X, in Los Angeles, the United States.
This new car named "Super One" offers two power versions: pure - electric and range - extended. It is positioned as a First Class AI - MPV (First - class Artificial Intelligence MPV), and FF calls it an "Automobile Embodied Intelligent Life Form".
From the front, the appearance is not very different from traditional MPVs, and there is a lidar on the roof.
The only difference is that the grille area doesn't use a grille design but is replaced by a large curved LeTV TV screen.
Jia Yueting introduced that this screen is the Super EAI F.A.C.E developed by the company, which enables the car to have the ability to interact with the outside world. Car owners can customize any pattern.
The body has smooth lines, a relatively wide wheelbase of nearly 3.3 meters, and the doors are electric sliding doors.
At the rear, the trunk has a capacity of nearly 320L. The taillights use a through - type design, and there are vertical LED light groups on both sides of the body.
Inside the car, the net height in the cabin is nearly 1.3 meters. There are three seating options: 4 - seat, 6 - seat, and 7 - seat. The second and third rows have common - rail seat slides, allowing for flexible seat layout and internal space arrangement.
The second - row seats are zero - gravity seats, equipped with functions such as ventilation, heating, and ten - point massage. There is also a ceiling - mounted entertainment screen. The official revealed that the intelligent cabin uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 chip.
After a one - hour introduction, Jia Yueting didn't announce the price of the new car, only giving a subtle range:
The price will be "on the high side", but it is also an "affordable MPV for the mass market", with a selling price lower than that of Cadillac's Escalade.
It is generally speculated that the final selling price will be lower than $80,000 (equivalent to about 574,000 RMB).
I'm sure you've already noticed that the new car looks a bit familiar. Why does it look so much like Great Wall's Wei brand Gaoshan 9?
Top: Wei brand Gaoshan 9, Bottom: FX Super One
In fact, as soon as the FX Super One was unveiled, it was quickly suspected by the outside world of being based on the Gaoshan 9 (ps: The guide price of the Wei brand Gaoshan 9 is 353,800 RMB).
From the side body lines, taillight design, and interior layout, the two models are highly consistent, except that FX replaced the grille area with an interactive screen.
What's even more dramatic is that in the introduction on the FF official website, there were indeed words related to "Gaoshan 9" (presumably due to incomplete deletion after copy - pasting), but the relevant description was quickly modified.
In the eyes of the outside world, this almost confirms that the FX Super One is a "re - branded" Wei brand Gaoshan 9.
However, this isn't the most surprising part. What really shocked the outside world is the order volume:
At the beginning of the live broadcast, FX simultaneously opened pre - orders for C - end users. By the end of the live broadcast, the official announced that the new car had received 10,034 pre - orders.
Jia Yueting revealed that these new cars are planned to be delivered by the end of this year. According to the company's financial report, the FX models will also be sold in China and the Middle East in the future.
Whether FF can survive probably depends on this last card.
Because the company has bet all its last - ditch funds on the new car.
FF reaches a crossroads again
Just one day before the new car was launched, Jia Yueting announced that he had obtained a new financing agreement of $105 million (about 750 million RMB).
This crucial fund is almost regarded by FF as the life - saving money to turn the situation around.
According to FF's financial report for the first quarter of this year, the company's single - quarter revenue was $316,000, about 2.267 million RMB, but the net loss attributable to the parent company was $10.278 million, about 73.726 million RMB.
Moreover, as of the end of the first quarter, the company's cash and cash equivalents were $9.458 million (about 67.84 million RMB), while its total liabilities had reached $271 million (about 1.94 billion RMB).
The $100 - million financing can only relieve the immediate need. At this spending rate, it's hard to say whether the company can survive until next year just relying on this money.
So, to make this money work, the company needs to offer something "substantial" to the market, which is naturally the new car, FX.
FF said that after the financing is in place, the company will have sufficient funds to launch the new model, FX Super One. This fund will also be used to accelerate the development of FF and FX's products and AI - related technologies, as well as the production and delivery of the FX Super One.
This new financing is undoubtedly good news at a crucial moment for FF, which hopes to turn things around with the new car.
However, the future may not be that simple, and bad news has also arrived along with the financing.
According to TechCrunch, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sent notices to Jia Yueting, the founder of FF, and his nephew, Wang Jiawei, the president of FF, warning them of a three - year fraud investigation.
The notice states that the SEC has formed a preliminary opinion and recommends initiating law - enforcement proceedings against FF, the two current executives mentioned above, and two former employees.
A literal translation of part of the SEC document
The "fraud" here refers to the fact that in 2021, FF went public through a merger with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), and there may have been false and misleading statements during this process.
That is to say, this investigation was launched soon after FF went public.
The incident started when FF introduced several new board members during the merger and listing process.
These members quickly questioned the company's information disclosure, especially regarding Jia Yueting's actual control of the company and the capital flow between him and related parties.
To clarify the doubts, the board launched an internal investigation and hired external legal and auditing institutions to assist. The final investigation result confirmed the existence of relevant problems.
These materials were then handed over to the SEC, and the SEC issued an official subpoena to the company in March 2022. The U.S. Department of Justice is also conducting a related investigation.
Left: Jia Yueting, Right: Wang Jiawei
Now, this investigation that has lasted for more than three years seems to be coming to an end.
An insider told TechCrunch that in the past few weeks, the SEC has questioned several former FF employees.
FF's response is that Jia Yueting and Wang Jiawei plan to meet with SEC staff to explain why law - enforcement proceedings should not be initiated.
But if the situation takes the worst turn - the SEC confirms the initiation of law - enforcement proceedings, then before a single unit of FF's MPV is delivered, it may face high - value penalties and be on the verge of delisting again.
Looking back on Jia Yueting's car - making journey, he has spent 11 years creating two cars, with a negligible delivery volume. It has to be said that he is truly a legend in the automotive industry to have obtained financing all the way until now.
FF's car - making journey
The story of FF and Jia Yueting began in 2014 in the United States.
At that time, Mr. Jia was very good at dealing with the capital market. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he was a top - notch figure in the capital market, and FF quickly attracted a lot of attention.
The following year, FF claimed to spend $1 billion to build a factory in the United States, but the factory project was announced to be suspended one year later.
2017 was an important turning point. That year, Jia Yueting unveiled FF's first car, the FF 91, in Singapore.
Also in that year, LeTV's capital chain broke, and Jia Yueting was deeply trapped in a debt crisis. Leaving behind the words "I'll be back next week", he has since been rooted in the United States to focus on car - making.
But with limited funds at that time, it was difficult for him to realize his car - making dream on his own. The FF 91, originally scheduled to be mass - produced in 2018