Stock Price Surges Over 11%: Only 14 Cars Delivered in a Decade - Can the Legacy of the 'No.1 PPT Car Maker' Endure

On December 23rd, Jia Yueting, the founder of FF (Faraday Future), announced on Weibo that after completing a $30 - million financing in September, the company had successfully completed a new round of $30 - million financing.

Although this amount is not large compared to the huge funds required for car - making, by the close of trading on December 24th, Eastern Time in the US, the stock price of Faraday Future had increased by more than 11%.

Jia Yueting, the founder of Faraday Future, is known by Chinese netizens as the "No.1 PPT Car - Maker", and I'm very interested in him. Today, let's talk about this Faraday Future.

The "No.1 PPT Car - Maker"

What is PPT - based car manufacturing?

PPT - based car manufacturing refers to the situation where some emerging automotive enterprises or startup teams, without actual mass - production capabilities and a mature technological system, mainly use elaborately - made presentation slides (PPT) to showcase their ambitious car - manufacturing plans and concepts.

By doing so, they aim to attract investors, gain media attention, and obtain financial support. Faraday Future, founded by Jia Yueting, is a prime example in this regard.Since Jia Yueting fled to the US, he has been painting a big picture of car - making for everyone over the years.

In April 2014, Jia Yueting founded the car company Faraday Future (FF) in California, US, and spent one billion yuan to build a factory in Nevada.

Faraday Future targeted Tesla and positioned itself as a super - high - end electric vehicle.

In January 2017, FF unveiled its first production - ready vehicle, the FF91, at the CES in the US and announced that it would be delivered in 2018.

However, due to the debt crisis of LeEco (a Chinese film and television company founded by Jia Yueting, which has now gone bankrupt) in 2016, FF had no extra funds to invest in mass - producing cars.

Just as the delivery was about to "fail", Jia Yueting suddenly announced that FF had obtained a $1 - billion financing, and the mass production of FF91 would continue.

But only half a year later, in July 2017, the factory was forced to shut down again due to funding problems.

With the delivery time approaching, there was still no progress in mass production.

At this time of internal and external troubles, Xu Jiayin from Evergrande extended a helping hand to Jia Yueting.

At that time, China's Evergrande Group was already facing financial problems, and Xu Jiayin urgently needed financing to break the situation.

He saw the development prospects of new energy vehicles and hoped to quickly enter the new energy vehicle field by investing in FF, promoting the listing of Evergrande Auto and getting the group out of trouble.

In 2018, Evergrande planned to invest $2 billion in FF, taking a 43% stake and joining FF. It also signed a bet - hedging agreement with FF. Evergrande would continue to invest in FF, but the prerequisite was that FF91 must achieve mass production by the end of 2018 and put 100,000 vehicles into production in 2019.

However, in less than two months, FF had spent through the $800 - million given by Evergrande without any output.

After the money was gone and no sign of the car was seen, Evergrande realized that it had been deceived and refused to pay further investment to FF on the grounds that FF did not meet the contract payment conditions.

Jia Yueting was not to be outdone at this time and played tricks. To ensure his absolute control over FF, Jia Yueting introduced new investors to dilute Evergrande's equity.

Naturally, Evergrande disagreed. After several rounds of contention, Evergrande chose to fully withdraw from FF.

FF91 launched two versions successively. Every time Jia Yueting appeared in public, he claimed that mass production was planned for the next year, but there was no progress. It seems that we can only see FF91 in Jia Yueting's PPT reports every year.

According to the information I've checked, FF 91 delivered a total of 10 cars in 2023... 4 were sold and 6 were leased; this year, 3 cars were delivered.

This means that from the establishment of Faraday Future in 2014 until now, in 10 years, only 13 cars have been delivered in total... Some of them were delivered to company executives such as Jia Yueting. Whether these cars can be driven after delivery and what problems they may have, we don't know😀

Jia Yueting Is Still on the Way

Let's get back to this $30 - million financing.

It's worth noting that this is already the second $30 - million financing commitment that FF has received within the past three months.

According to reports, in September this year, FF announced that it had obtained a $30 - million financing commitment from investors in the Middle East, the US, and Asia.

On September 20th, FF officially launched its second brand, FX, and clearly stated that it would launch two new models priced between $20,000 and $50,000.

In fact, although I often make jokes about Jia Yueting delivering only 13 cars in 10 years, deep down, I truly admire him.

After the bankruptcy of LeEco, burdened with huge debts, he didn't choose to give up. Instead, he resolutely went overseas to start his car - making career.

It has to be said that Jia Yueting has a discerning eye.

He was one of the very few people in China who foresaw the advent of the new - energy vehicle era in advance (in this regard, he is somewhat similar to Musk, but he has yet to succeed for the time being).

Unfortunately, his vision was too far - ahead. As early as 2014, he initiated the car project, which ultimately led to the bankruptcy of LeEco due to the limitations of the times and social conditions at that time.

In 2017, Jia Yueting went to Los Angeles, USA, to continue pursuing his car - making dream. At that time, new - energy vehicles in China had not yet been marketized.

Data shows that in 2017, the penetration rate of new - energy vehicles in China was only 2.4%. By 2022, this figure had soared to 28%.

Fortunately, Jia Yueting finally witnessed the upsurge of the new - energy vehicle development.

Jia Yueting once revealed in a video, "The debt of over $10 billion guaranteed for LeEco now has approximately $2 billion remaining. I only need to repay 40% of this $2 - billion amount, that is, around $700 - 800 million. After repaying these debts, I can return to China. Although I have no personal debts after the debt restructuring in the US, repaying the remaining debts under Chinese law and returning to my homeland as soon as possible have always been my responsibility and goal."

This is precisely why I admire him.

He has never given up and has always been striving for his goals on the path of entrepreneurship. Whether this goal is to pay off debts, return to China, or pursue an ideal and a better life, it doesn't really matter.

Finally, although I admire Jia Yueting and the stock price of Faraday Future has increased significantly by 11%, I still suggest that everyone, even speculators, had better stay away from this company.#ffie