Faraday Future Says LeEco's U.S. Layoffs Won't Affect Day-to-day Operations

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky

This week, China’s LeEco canned the majority of its North American workforce and we assumed the layoffs spelled trouble for its business interests at Faraday Future. Not so, claims the automotive startup. In an emailed response to our earlier article, Faraday says LeEco’s decision to massively scale back its U.S. operations will not affect its daily goings-on or hinder the development of the FF91 electric vehicle.

Faraday Future spokesman Rich Otto also wanted to ensure us the company has no layoffs of its own planned. Obviously, the grim situation over at LeEco had everyone wondering if that was it for FF. But the aspiring electric automaker has come back with a resounding not as far as we’re concerned.

After LeEco’s announcement to employees regarding the cuts, Faraday CFO Stefan Krause issued a statement hoping to dispel concerns over the firm’s well being. “Hearing about layoffs at our strategic partner LeEco is discouraging,” he said. “However, I want to be clear that these layoffs have no impact on Faraday Future. We remain committed to our immediate goals of diversifying FF’s investment sources and getting FF 91 on the road in 2018, and we remain confident in the outlook for diversifying FF’s global investment.”

This doesn’t mean Faraday is out of the woods. LeEco hasn’t confirmed whether it will continue investing in the automaker and the FF 91 still has kinks to work out before it reaches production. However, the statement does confirm the brand isn’t interested in throwing in the towel.

[Image: Faraday Future]

Matt Posky
Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

More by Matt Posky

Comments
Join the conversation
 6 comments
  • Xtoyota Xtoyota on May 25, 2017

    With all the problems....why would anyone invest in Faraday

  • Phila_DLJ Phila_DLJ on May 25, 2017

    (Psst...There are no day-to-day operations)

  • Orenwolf Orenwolf on May 25, 2017

    I hope that's true, but I've worked for corporations that, at a high level, had no direction (or terrible direction), and as a result, their awesome little subsidiaries, despite being guaranteed autonomy, died on the vine.

  • Dukeisduke Dukeisduke on May 25, 2017

    What day-to-day operations? Sending out press releases to try to forestall the inevitable?

Next