The news that Apple has abandoned car manufacturing has caused a stir in the technology and automotive industry, with several big shots including Tesla CEO Elon Musk responding. Even Jia Yueting, who only delivered 10 FF 91s last year, has once again felt a sense of presence.
On February 29th, Jia Yueting, founder of Faraday Future (FF) and founder of LeEco, published an article commenting that "Cook is not Steve Jobs after all, and Apple's decision to give up car manufacturing was a big mistake."
Jia Yueting wrote, "I am actually very disappointed that Apple has decided to abandon its ten-year car manufacturing project."
He believes that Apple's abandonment of car manufacturing is the biggest deficiency in the AI (artificial intelligence) terminal side of the Apple ecosystem. Apple will lose the historical opportunity to vertically integrate the automotive ecosystem through AI, which will also be a regret for users and the industry.
At the same time, Jia Yueting also criticized Apple CEO Tim Cook, saying, "Cook is not the Steve Jobs in my mind. He can hold onto Steve Jobs' iPhone, but it seems that he cannot create the future of AI electric mobility. This is the difference between top professional managers and great founders."
In addition, he also stated that he will continue to make cars. "FF, who has been making cars for 10 years, empathizes with this process. However, we have always believed in FF's unique value and strategic direction. Even if Apple gives up on making cars, we will never give up until we succeed."
On February 26th local time, Matthias Aydt, the global CEO of Faraday Future, released an open letter summarizing the development goals for 2023 while announcing the 2024 goals.
Matthias stated that FF has made significant progress in the face of limited funds and severe global economic headwinds, including the constantly changing pattern of the electric vehicle industry. In 2023, FF began to enter the stage of delivering revenue, forming a closed loop of user acquisition, delivery, and user operation.
He revealed in the letter that FF has invested $3 billion (approximately RMB 21.59 billion) so far to build an electric vehicle platform, product development and other fields. The company's disclosed third quarter report for 2023 shows a net asset of $261.8 million.
For 2024, Matthias stated that the company will deepen its focus on the dual home markets in the United States and China, as well as the Middle East. This year, it will launch the FF 91 2.0 aiFalcon model and develop the next generation FF 92 product, accelerating FF factory equipment debugging and upgrading, laying the foundation for large-scale production.
In terms of finance, FF stated that the company has the foundation to support future development, but additional funds are still needed.
Matthias also mentioned that the company "prioritizes cash flow balance over production to avoid rapid expansion of production scale, which has always been a problem faced by many competitors.".
Public information shows that FF was established in 2014, but its first mass-produced car, the FF 91, took nine years to go offline. At the 2023 FF 91 Futurist mass production press conference, Jia Yueting stated that he had suffocated his dream for 9 years. However, according to official data, a total of 10 FF 91s were delivered by FF in 2023.