An electric car startup intended to compete with Tesla and involving a Chinese multibillionaire is taking shape in Gardena.
It is centered in a metal building in an industrial corner of Gardena, near a credit union and pet cemetery, the Los Angeles Times reported. A small white sign in front of the building reads “Faraday Future,” with a number to call for deliveries.
In sleek offices with white furniture, a cast of highly pedigreed executives and engineers — including former senior Tesla employees — is planning a $1 billion factory that will churn out the next luxury electric car, according to The Times Friday.
It is clear is that the company and its 400 workers, housed in Nissan’s former U.S. sales office, see themselves as a rival to Tesla, the Palo Alto maker of high-end electric cars, the newspaper reported.
“You have to be a little bit brave to do something like this,” Richard Kim, who is head of design and previously worked at BMW, Porsche and Audi, told The Times. “We are going to make intelligent vehicles. We’re building a brand.”
The Faraday brand is tied to a Chinese multibillionaire with towering ambitions and an equally tall pile of cash, The Times reported.
The company declined to identify its ownership and investors, but a review of incorporation papers filed with the California secretary of state’s office links Faraday to a Chinese media company operated by Jia Yueting, an entrepreneur who founded Leshi Internet Information & Technology, according to the newspaper.
Jia is worth $7 billion, according to Forbes, which ranked him as China’s 17th richest person. He recently launched a line of smartphones and acquired a 70 percent stake in Yidao Yongche, an Uber-like car service in China. Earlier this year, Jia told the Wall Street Journal that he wanted to develop a car that would rival Tesla.
The incorporation papers cited by The Times list Chaoying Deng, the woman who runs a Leshi affiliate in the U.S., as Faraday’s chief executive.
—Staff and wire reports