Faraday Future is the mysterious Chinese-backed Silicon Valley auto startup that made its break a year ago disappointing the world at the last Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Things don’t look particularly good on that front at the moment.
Its most prestigious hire and top-listed executive, Marco Mattiacci of Ferrari fame, has reportedly left the company — just days away from a make-or-break production car debut at CES 2017.
Mattiacci held the top position on the company’s list of executives on its website, as chief brand and commercial officer.
Amazingly, Mattiacci is not the only executive to leave the company in this go. Joerg Sommer, another legacy hire from one of the largest car companies in the world, Volkswagen, also has left the company according to another report.
The report cited two unnamed sources, but did not receive comment from Faraday Future itself. Anonymous sources speaking to Jalopnik / Gizmodo have also stated that Sommer had left, and we had heard rumours that Mattiacci had tension with the company. We have reached out to Faraday Future for an official comment.
Sommer held the position of vice president for product marketing and growth. Both are now off the company’s official webpage.
As of only a few weeks ago, Sommer told Jalopnik that he was happy at the company. He had been at Faraday Future only for a few months.
With both of these positions having to do with new product and brand positioning, things do indeed look rough for Faraday Future as we sit only a week away from its CES reveal.
As we reported last week, Faraday Future struggles with securing funding from its Chinese tech billionaire investor Jia Yueting. Some sources close to the company and speaking on conditions of anonymity to Jalopnik believe that Faraday Future should be able to survive this next year, that funding will come as Jia repeatedly tells Faraday Future. But these departures, much like the six top executives who left the company earlier this year, point to deeper organizational problems within FF.
More: 7 Electric Cars That Could Challenge Tesla’s Model S
Tesla continues to dominate when it comes to long-range electric vehicles. But that may not be the case for long. A slew of automakers have plans to roll electric vehicles with a range of 200 miles or more by 2020. And many of these upcoming vehicles are high-end, luxury vehicles, making them direct competitors with Tesla’s Model S. From Faraday Future to Porsche, Audi, Mercedes and even Apple.