Faraday Future revealed: Company gets funding to produce FF91

Faraday Future completes first pre-production FF91 on August 28, 2018
On-again, off-again electric-car startup Faraday may have a future after all.

The company announced two new rounds of financing Monday, a $1.25 billion stock sale expected to be completed by the end of the year, and a $225 million bridge loan to make it to the end of the year.

In a statement, Faraday Future said the money will pay for the production of the long-awaited FF91, and pay for continued on its second model, the FF81, for launch in 2021.

DON'T MISS: Faraday Future gets a $2 billion lifeline to build expensive crossover

The new financing round is being led by Stifel Nicolaus & Co., a St. Louis-based “diversified global wealth management and investment banking company.”

The bridge loan comes from Birch Lake Associates, a Chicago investment firm, which bills itself as deploying “intellectual and financial capital in stressed and transitional businesses by advising corporations and investors on mergers and acquisitions, financial restructurings and complex situations.”

MUST READ: With cease-fire agreement, spark flickers toward Faraday's Future

Faraday Future's situation certainly has been complex.

Backed by a Chinese investor who founded the company along with several big-name automotive engineers, the company brought its FF91 ultra-luxury EV prototype to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in 2017 and announced that it would break ground on a giant factory there to build the car and a more affordable subsequent model, the FF81. Financing for the project fell through and the company abandoned the factory, and for a while the car as well, before leasing a smaller factory in California's Central Valley.

CHECK OUT: Faraday Future funder writes its own Saab story

After receiving a new round of financing last summer from a Hong Kong conglomerate, Evergrande Health, with a desire to get into the electric-car business, Faraday built more FF91 prototypes and hired more workers.

When that deal fell apart, amid back-and-forth finger pointing over spending and missed investment targets, the company laid off or furloughed about 80 percent of its workforce, and the five founders with automotive engineering experience left. A barrage of lawsuits and countersuits was settled in January in what amounts to a cease-fire agreement that allowed Faraday Future to seek additional sources of financing.

READ MORE: Faraday Future joint venture to create electric MPV based on FF91

Earlier this month, the company mortgaged its Los Angeles-area headquarters and reached a new agreement with Chinese gaming company The9 to build 300,000 copies of a new, lower-priced electric vehicle called the V9 for the Chinese market. That deal brought Faraday Future another $600 million.

The senior bridge financing note includes $150 million to maintain Faraday Future's supply chain for the FF91.

Working with another investment adviser, Faraday Future has valued its assets at $1.25 billion.

The larger $1.25 billion round of equity financing is expected to be completed early in the third quarter this year, the company said.

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BMW X3 M and X4 M Join Production Queue in Spartanburg, South Carolina

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More on this:1 UPDATE: BMW M3 Nurburgring Taxi Running Costs Explained, Total Is €235,000/Year2 BMW X3 and X4 Get M Variants with 480 HP Engine3 2021 Rolls-Royce Ghost Prototype Shows Sleeker Headlights4 2020 Alpina B7 xDrive Is the Only Production BMW 7 Series with 600 HP5 BMW Bids Farewell To M140i With Finale Edition In Australia

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BMW X3 M and X4 M Join Production Queue in Spartanburg, South Carolina

14 Feb 2019, 13:53 UTC ·
by Daniel Patrascu

Home > News > Car Profile

Fresh out of the box as the newest additions to lineup of BMW M models, the X3 M and X4 M have already joined the list of cars being manufactured at the carmaker’s facility in the U.S. With their addition, the location in Spartanburg, South Carolina, increases the number of X models it assembles to nine.
2 photosAnd it’s no surprise that is so, considering the fact that the Xs in the lineup, meaning BMW’s SUVs, accounted for more than half of the company's sales in the country last year. At the same time, with a production capacity of 450,000 vehicles per year, the Spartanburg facility is BMW’s largest in the world and the perfect point of origin for the two cars.
“The addition of these two all-new models plus the first-ever BMW X7, which began production last December, is a testament to the performance, passion and pride of the more than 11,000 people working at Plant Spartanburg and serves to further underscore BMW’s commitment in the U.S.,” said in a statement Knudt Flor, MW Manufacturing CEO.

“Since the BMW X5 was first introduced, creating the premium SAV segment in 1999, Plant Spartanburg has been BMW’s global center of competence for X models and continues to be so today.”
Both the models to be put together in Spartanburg use the same engine, a 3.0-liter that develops 480 horsepower and 600 Nm (442 lb-ft) of torque. Those figures make it the most powerful six-cylinder inline engine ever used in a car by M.
There will be two variants for each of the two Ms, the regular one, if it can be called that, and the Competition. The main difference between them is the fact that the engine on the Competition variants will develop 510 hp and will have a slightly quicker acceleration time. Both cars will enter production this April.

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BMW models:BMW X4 M Medium SUVBMW X3 M Medium SUVBMW 7 Series (G11) LCI Upper PremiumBMW 8-Series Convertible Roadster & ConvertibleBMW X7 (G07) Large SUVAll BMW models

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Rolls-Royce Can’t Keep Up With Demand Thanks To the Cullinan

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Rolls-Royce Can’t Keep Up With Demand Thanks To the Cullinan

18 Feb 2019, 15:15 UTC ·
by Mircea Panait

Home > News > Car Profile

Love them or hate them, SUVs and car-based crossovers are all the rage these days. From the likes of the Dacia Duster and Suzuki Jimny to leviathans like the BMW X7 and Lincoln Navigator, people all across the world can’t get enough of the utility vehicle craze.
29 photosEven Ferrari announced the Purosangue, its first-ever entry in the segment, featuring all-wheel drive and a hybridized V8 from the Italian automaker’s upcoming supercar. But Rolls-Royce has a different idea in regard to what a high-end SUV should be, and this is where the Cullinan steps in.
Revealed in May 2018 and retailing at $325,000 before opening the options and personalization brochures, the Phantom-based utility vehicle isn’t named after the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever discovered just because Rolls-Royce wants to impress. It is even more luxurious than the Bentley Bentayga, and that’s saying something.
Produced at the Goodwood plant alongside the Phantom, the Double R can’t keep up with demand for the thing even though the first examples of the breed arrived in showrooms in November 2018. Automotive News understands from Martin Fritsches, chief executive of the British automaker in the Americas, that “many customers who already drive the Dawn or Phantom buy a second Rolls-Royce.”
“Self-indulgence” is what motivates these people to add the Cullinan to their car collection, and according to Rolls-Royce, the order books are full through July 2019. In the ballpark of half of Cullinan customers are new to the brand, and the luxo-SUV is incredibly successful with women.
Stefano Domenicali of Lamborghini said the same thing about the Urus before the production model went official, and now look at the Raging Bull of Sant’Agata Bolognese. Sales are better than ever before, and even though Bentley came up with the Bentayga Speed (306 km/h), the Urus (305 km/h) accelerates quicker and handles better.
Because of the high-riding Roller, the Goodwood-based automaker had to increase its staff by 200 jobs, now totaling 2,000 employees. For the sake of comparison, Rolls-Royce had 1,300 employees five years ago.

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