Fledgling electric automaker Faraday Future, largely funded by Chinese billionaire Jia Yueting, has reportedly declared they’re setting up shop near Las Vegas, Nevada to the tune of a $1 billion facility. They hope to be cranking out cars by 2017.
Faraday Future is headquartered in Gardena, California and Bloomberg tells us the company was also considering other locations in California, Georgia and Louisiana to set up manufacturing in.
Now it appears a Nevada location has been confirmed, which is most likely in North Las Vegas.
Last month after and interview with Faraday Director of Communications and Public Relations Stacy Morris, Bloomberg explained that North Las Vegas “declared a state of emergency in 2012 as collapsing property values sapped the state’s third-largest city of revenue as it was paying debt service on a new city hall, a waste-water treatment plant and a regional park.”
I don’t think it’s much of a leap to say the city probably made Faraday a pretty attractive offer to bring a massive manufacturing facility and a few jobs to the region in the near future.
Of course Faraday Future will also be benefiting from Nevada’s lack of any corporate income tax.
The state has been doing a decent job riding the current wave of technological developments to establish itself in the “new automotive industry” we’re watching be born right now.
Tesla is still hard at work getting their Gigafactory online near Reno, and of course Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval helped Daimler Chairman Wolfgang Bernhard put the first “AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE” license plate on the bumper of Freightliner’s self-driving semi-truck just a few months ago.
Nevada has a lot of surplus space and labor force, not to mention miles and miles of uncrowded open highways. The state is keen to diversify its corporate residents, and they’ll reap big benefits if successful outfits set up shop within their borders. Even if they’re not directly collecting taxes on dollars made.
As for Faraday, reports say they’re planning to hit the market with one model of electric car but hope to ramp up to seven eventually. “By 2020, will we see your cars on the road? The Verge asked the company’s Senior Vice President of R&D Nick Sampson. His reply: “Absolutely.”
Sampson, who left Tesla and now helps run Faraday’s research and development arm, told Automotive News; “Our business model is not based around moving a car out of the dealer. We envision this like a smart phone. The revenue starts once you get the device in the owners’ hands. We’re looking at subscriptions and apps and other opportunities.” Those opportunities might include some kind of car-sharing scheme.
The company’s first model is ostensibly scheduled to debut at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on January 6th, 2016. Stay tuned for updates through then!
Image via The Verge screencap
Contact the author at andrew@jalopnik.com.