Faraday Future, the struggling Chinese-American electric vehicle start-up, has appointed the former head of BMW‘s i electric vehicle division to lead it out of its financial difficulties.
Carsten Breitfeld, who played an integral role in BMW’s entry into the electric vehicle market with the all-electric i3 and plug-in hybrid i8, will take over as chief executive officer at the Los Angeles-based firm with the specific goal of delivering its first production model.
The highly regarded German engineer has broad experience in the electric vehicle ranks, having filled key positions at rival Chinese electric vehicle start-ups Byton and Iconiq since his departure from BMW in 2016.
Breitfeld succeeds Jia Yueting, founder of Faraday Future. Yeuting, who stepped down from the CEO role as part of stipulations demanded by Faraday Future investors, will continue to play a senior role in the company as chief product and user officer. The key aim in the appointment of Breitfeld is a start of production for the Faraday Future FF91.
First revealed at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the large crossover style vehicle has reportedly been developed to a near-to-production-ready-state. However, crippling debts attributed to Yeuting’s flamboyant management style and high development costs had seen plans for it to be produced at a factory in Hanford, California, placed on hold.
Faraday aims to start production of the 1070bhp four-wheel drive FF 91 l in 2020 and follow it up with a smaller, yet to be revealed FF 81 model in 2022.
“The priority now is fundraising. We will go to the capital markets,” Breitfeld said. “In the first stage, it will be a three-digit million dollar amount that’s still missing to make all of this happen.”