Faraday Future Moves HQ to China

Faraday Future Inc., the California-based electric car startup, has moved its operating headquarters to China.

Evergrande Health Industry Group Ltd., the Chinese conglomerate which bought a 45% stake in Faraday Future (FF) in June, says the EV maker aims to expand annual output to five million cars in 10 years.

By then, the new Evergrande FF Intelligent Automotive (China) Co. expects to open five plants and r&d facilities in China. The office will be responsible for all product development, production and operations in China.

The company’s first car, the FF91 crossover (pictured above), has begun production in the U.S., according to Evergrande. Last month the carmaker showed a production version of the high-performance vehicle’s body-in-white and said deliveries will begin in December.

FF unveiled the FF91 in prototype form at last year’s CES electronics show in Las Vegas. The car is equipped with three electric motors and a 130-kWh battery. Faraday Future has said the car can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in 2.4 seconds and travel 378 miles on a charge.

The EV company was founded in 2014 by Chinese internet tycoon Jia Yueting as a new business for his LeEco conglomerate. But the company soon ran into funding problems that forced it to slash its planning product lineup from seven models to two. Last year it also canceled plans for a $1 billion assembly plant in Nevada.