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Report: California EV Developer Backed by Chinese Tech Whiz

California electric vehicle startup Faraday Future Inc. appears to be backed by Chinese billionaire Jia Yueting, whose style has been compared with Apple Inc.’s late cofounder Steve Jobs, the Associated Press reports.
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California electric vehicle startup Faraday Future Inc. appears to be backed by Chinese billionaire Jia Yueting, whose style has been compared with Apple Inc.’s late cofounder Steve Jobs, the Associated Press reports.

Faraday Future, which is shopping for a location for a $1 billion assembly plant, has been secretive about its investors. AP says the company was incorporated in California last year as LeTV ENV Inc.

The filing came from an address in Beijing associated with LeTV, a holding company founded by Yueting, the news service reports. A Faraday spokesperson says only that the company has a “significant investor who wants the company to stand on its own merit” before being associated with the venture.

Faraday aims to launch a luxury EV in 2017 to compete with the Tesla Motors Inc. $76,000 Model S electric sedan. The company says the vehicle will feature a very high level of connectivity.

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