Faraday Future recently announced that they are pushing through with plans of building the Nevada plant. They also noted that they are not scaling back on its operation and are now entering "phase 2 of stage 1," despite reports that the company is facing financial struggles.
The Verge reports that the company has entered a competitive bidding stage, wherein they are soliciting 5 bids from "top US and international contractors." "The manufacturing project is indeed a massive and important one and we'll need to proceed one step at a time with this multi-stage manufacturing strategy," a Faraday Future spokesperson Dan Zhu said.
Dan Zhu also added that "phase 2 of stage 1" means they will construct a smaller facility so they can jumpstart in building their flagship vehicle, the FF91. Thus, reports that Faraday Future is downsizing massively on plans for their Las Vegas plant from 3 million square feet to only 650,000 square feet are "inaccurate."
The bottom "Battery Layer" of #FF91 is an elegant tribute to the flexibility of our VPA and battery systems. See how https://t.co/LYnibE17Y5 pic.twitter.com/fiBXOqsFnz
— Faraday Future (@FaradayFuture) February 17, 2017
They will still build the 3 million-square-foot facility in Nevada by the third or fourth quarter of this year, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. And this will be an addition to the smaller plant, which is part of "Stage 1." But there is yet no timetable for "Stage 2," except for "as soon as possible."
Meanwhile, Dan Schwartz, Nevada Treasurer, is even more skeptical about Faraday Future's plant now than he was. This comes after a $215 million tax incentive was approved by lawmakers in December 2015. "Their story changes," added Schwartz.
An auto supplier, Futuris, sued FF claiming that the company has been delinquent regarding their invoices and owed Futuris over $10 million. Three days earlier, Beim Maple Properties also filed a lawsuit against FF claiming that they missed a warehouse rent of around $104,950.
Also, Faraday Future has been reported to be behind in payments to a global construction firm, AECOM, worth $21 million. But a company rep said via email that they are still "fully engaged with" FF.
Whether Faraday Future will stick to its planned production of the FF91 by 2018 is yet to be seen. For now, let's sit back and wait until a massive factory in North Las Vegas suddenly pops up in the following months. If so, FF has stayed true to its word and will have stomped on reports claiming that the company is in financial hot water.
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