I’m not a car guy.
I really can’t tell one car from another and I don’t know how anything under the hood works. And I’m fine with that. I view my car as something that will get me from Point A to Point B; if it does that, that’s about all I’m looking for.
But I must admit that Tesla fascinates me. Part of it may be having Elon Musk heading up the company; part of it may be watching a car company start from the ground up, since most other car companies were formed decades to over a century ago; part of it may be the promise of an all-electric vehicle; part of it may be in watching the excitement over Tesla by investors, despite never having shown a profit, and burning through cash; part of it may be their unique sales approach, direct to consumer instead of through dealers.
It seemed as if Tesla had locked up the high-end, all electric vehicle market to itself, until this week that is.
Faraday Future, an all-electric car company, announced yesterday that it is looking to build a $1 billion factory and begin selling its cars by 2017.
Here is Faraday’s philosophy/vision from its corporate web site:
At Faraday Future, we believe that today’s cars do not meet today’s needs. Technological innovations, energy constraints, urban crowding and demanding lifestyles have each contributed to a fundamental shift in our relationships with our cars.
By placing equal emphasis on automotive and technology disciplines, our team of experts is uniquely positioned to take a user-centric, technology-first approach to vehicle design with the ultimate aim of connecting the automotive experience to the rest of your life.
We will launch with fully-electric vehicles that will offer smart and seamless connectivity to the outside world. Beyond traditional electric vehicles, we are also developing other aspects of the automotive and technology industries, including unique ownership models, in-vehicle content and autonomous driving.
Like Tesla, Faraday is named for one of the most influential scientists of all time, Michael Faraday. It was Faraday’s research on the magnetic field around a conductor carrying a direct current that established the basis for the concept of the electromagnetic field in physics. His inventions of electromagnetic rotary devices formed the foundation of electric motor technology, and it was largely due to his efforts that electricity became practical for use in technology.
Faraday Future was formed by a team of former Tesla executives, as well as former BMW and General Motors personnel.
So who knows if this will be the start of something big, or if it will simply fade away.
It would certainly be interesting if in 10 years I were writing a blog post about the great and powerful Faraday Future as the most dominant car company in the world, and that future post would have a link back to this post, noting the day that Faraday made its pubic debut. It’s always fun to go back and look at the earliest mentions of firms that went on to great success, such as Google or Facebook. Perhaps this post will be part of the history of Faraday Future, and I can claim that I knew it would be a success from the very start.
So I’m not sure what’s more likely – me still writing a blog 10 years from now (will such things even exist in 10 years?), or having Faraday Future be a wildly successful car company.
Either way, it gives me something to look forward to 10 years from now.
I wish Faraday Future the best.
Borden's Blather 