The future is still far away, but maybe there is a chance again?
Interesting news comes from China where The9 Limited (The9), an Internet company listed in NASDAQ, announced a 50/50 joint venture with Faraday&Future Inc.
According to the press release, The9 intends to introduce on the market a new all-electric car called V9, based on (or maybe being a clone of) Faraday Future FF 91. The first pre-production car is expected to roll off the production line in 2020.
To make it happen, The9 will invest up to $600 million in three equal installments to the JV, maintaining control over business operations. At some point in the future, the JV could produce 300,000 cars per year.
“The9 Limited (Nasdaq: NCTY) (“The9”), an established Internet company, today announced that it has signed a joint venture agreement (the “JVA”) with Faraday&Future Inc., a company incorporated and existing under the laws of California in the U.S. (“FF”) to establish a joint venture (the “JV”) to manufacture, market, distribute, and sell electric cars in China. The JV’s immediate objective is to exclusively manufacture, market, distribute, and sell the Faraday Future’s new brand V9 model, a flagship luxury IAIEV based on the technology and design concepts of the FF 91, FF’s flagship consumer car model, and other potential selected car models in China.
Under the terms of the JVA, The9 will make capital contribution of up to US$600 million in three equal installments to the JV, and FF will make contributions including its use right in a piece of land in China for electric cars manufacturing and will grant the JV an exclusive license to manufacture, market, distribute and sell Faraday Future’s new brand V9 model and other potential car models in China, in each case subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions. The9 and FF will each have 50% ownership of the JV, while The9 will control the business operations of the JV. FF, the JV and The9 will negotiate and enter into a license agreement pursuant to which FF will grant to the JV an exclusive license to manufacture, market, distribute and sell Faraday Future’s new brand V9 model and other potential selected car models in China.”
Mr. Jun Zhu, CEO of The9 said:
“We are very pleased to see The9, an Internet company with more than a decade of industry experiences, to partner with FF, a high-tech internet smart mobility company to bring high-quality luxury electric vehicles to the Chinese marketplace. FF has the industry leading product technology and strategy, and a team of world-class top talents and resources. Leveraging the technology capabilities of FF, we believe our alliance with FF provides us with a great opportunity to pursue the fast-growing market of electric vehicles in China. We look forward to a long and successful relationship with FF and we honor this step to diversify our business portfolio as a high-tech Internet company.”
FF founder and CEO YT Jia commented:
“As a California-based ultra-luxury intelligent mobility brand, FF has hundreds of proprietary patents, along with more than 2,000 industry patents in process to be approved, in both China and the United States. We are committed to be part of the future of the Chinese EV mobility market. Through the establishment of the joint venture, we are able to implement our dual-home-market and dual-brand strategy and achieve our strategic goal of introducing our luxury EV brand in China. This is only the beginning of a series of strategic actions for FF, all designed to support the completion and launch of its “new species” FF 91 EV in 2019, continue development of the mass-market premium model FF 81 in both China and the United States. ” .
“We are very grateful for this opportunity as it shows the recognition of FF’s product technology from The9. I believe that FF’s strategic vision and product concept will be perfectly integrated with the Internet and user operation genes of The9 to realize the smooth operation of FF new brand and flagship products in China.” said YT Jia.
Source: Read Full Article