It’s been quite the trek for Faraday Future since the carmaker got everyone all revved up at CES 2017 when it debuted its flagship ultra-luxury e-SUV.
Shortly afterward, the company found itself cash poor — as it turns out, making an electric vehicle from scratch is really expensive (especially when you have Jia Yueting at the wheel).
Now, days after Faraday sold its LA headquarters, The Verge reports the company has received another surprise lifeline in the form of a new 50/50 partnership with Chinese mobile video game company The9.
That’s because Faraday received a $2B lifeline back in 2017 from the Chinese real estate conglomerate Evergrande, before getting locked into a high-speed chase for control over the company that ultimately led to hundreds of layoffs.
The9 says it will contribute as much as $600m as long as Faraday promised to use the money to make a new car for the Chinese market by 2020 called the V9.
The 2 companies claim they will be able to make 300k cars per year — an odd estimate considering Faraday is still struggling to release the FF91.
The9 said that the $600m will go only to the joint venture — not Faraday’s US operations — in 3 $200m installments all connected to some fairly ambitious checkpoints.
Once again, exactly the kind of goal-oriented payment plan that led to the blowout between Faraday and Evergrande.
Faraday Future now has to put the pedal to the metal as it faces the difficult task of hiring back the positions they laid off back in December — a road that could prove to be bumpy considering its track record.