Faraday Future has signed a joint venture agreement (the “JVA”) with The9 Limited, a China-based Internet company, to form a joint venture (the “JV”) to manufacture, market, distribute, and sell luxury intelligent electric vehicles in China. This also marks a key first step for FF to officially launch its dual-home-market and dual-brand strategy in both China and the US.
Both FF and The9 are confident in the outlook of China’s new energy mobility industry. The JV’s immediate objective is to exclusively manufacture, market, distribute, and sell Faraday Future’s new brand V9 model, a flagship luxury EV model designed and developed by FF. Other future models could be created with additional agreements.
The9 is a renowned Internet company based in China, listed on Nasdaq since 2004 with over a decade of experience in both the Internet industry as well as capital markets. The9’s experienced international team and its familiarity with the US capital markets will help to establish a global team for the JV’s management and operations. Moreover, the JV will be able to leverage The9’s industry reputation and existing business intelligence for the JV’s marketing implementation, especially in China.
This is only the beginning of a series of strategic actions for FF, all designed to support the completion and launch of its “new species of vehicle mobility” FF 91 EV in 2019 and continue development of the mass-market premium FF 81 under its dual-home-market and dual-brand strategy in both the U.S. as well as China. FF continues to make steady progress in the U.S. on the ultra-luxury FF 91 flagship, readying it for final production later this year. FF will work on establishing a team of integrated global R&D employees to support its already robust vendor and supply chain.
Under the JVA, The9 will make capital contributions of up to $600 million to the JV, and FF will make in-kind contributions to the JV, including FF’s use rights to a piece of land located in China for luxury EV manufacturing and an exclusive license to manufacture, market, distribute and sell Faraday Future’s new brand V9 model and potentially other select future car models in China. The expected annual production capacity of the joint venture is 300,000 cars, and the first pre-production car is expected to roll off the production line in 2020.
“We are very pleased to see The9, an Internet company with more than a decade of industry experience, to partner with FF, a high-tech internet mobility company, to bring high-quality luxury electric vehicles to the Chinese marketplace,” said Mr. Jun Zhu, CEO of The9. “FF has the industry leading product technology and strategies, and a team of world-class top talents and resources. Leveraging the technology capabilities of FF, we believe our alliance with FF provides us with a great opportunity to pursue the fast-growing market of electric vehicles in China. We look forward to a long and successful relationship with FF and we honor this step to diversify our business portfolio as a high-tech Internet company.”
“We are very grateful for this opportunity as it shows the recognition of FF’s product technology from the9,” said FF founder and CEO YT Jia. “I believe that FF’s strategic vision and product concept will be perfectly integrated with the Internet and user operation genes of the9 to realize the smooth operation of FF flagship products in China.”
“As a California-based ultra-luxury intelligent mobility brand, FF has hundreds of proprietary patents, along with more than 1,000 industry patents currently in process, in both China and the United States. We are committed to be part of the future of the growing Chinese EV mobility market. Through the establishment of the joint venture, we are able to implement our dual-home-market and dual-brand strategy and achieve our strategic goal of introducing our new luxury EV brand in China,” said YT Jia.
With The9’s first installment of capital into the JV, the establishment of the JV will help FF to overcome its short-term cash flow difficulties and support its ongoing equity financing efforts.
FF’s first FF 91 pre-production car was delivered last August at its manufacturing facility in Hanford, CA., the company’s production site in the U.S. Currently, multiple pre-production vehicles are undergoing vigorous testing and validation processes, with the goal of final delivery later this year. FF is ready to bring its industry-leading technology and strategic resources to this exciting JV with its partner The9.
