A group of Faraday Future employees seek management change, Toyota will build EV batteries in America, Lucid Motors looks to raise more funding. All this and more in today’s issue of The Morning Dump.
Welcome to The Morning Dump, bite-sized stories corralled into a single article for your morning perusal. If your morning coffee’s working a little too well, pull up a throne and have a gander at the best of the rest of yesterday.
Some Faraday Future Employees Want Executive Chairperson Removed
The bad news just keeps coming for EV startup Faraday Future. Reuters reports that a significant number of employees at the company want Executive Chairperson Susan Swenson out of the company.
Representatives for a group of about 140 employees alleged in the letter dated Aug. 23 that Swenson had organized attempts to “push the company into bankruptcy and restructuring”.
Swenson did not respond to requests for comment, while Faraday Future declined to comment.
The group also asked the board to make public the findings from an ongoing investigation of multiple whistleblower letters concerning four directors – Sue Swenson, Jordan Vogel, Scott Vogel and Brian Krolicki. The directors did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This moment of corporate unease is just the latest in a serious of troubles befalling EV startup Faraday Future. From financial struggles to being the subject of an SEC investigation, the brief history of Faraday Future is rather tumultuous. The allegations against Swenson are quite serious and could lead to stakeholders cutting ties with Faraday Future should the allegations be founded.
Toyota Plans To Build EV Batteries In America
Toyota may be late to the EV game, but it’s coming in swinging around some big capital. Automotive News reports that the Japanese automaker is expanding investment into its planned North Carolina-based battery plant to the tune of $2.5 billion.
“We started with four hybrid-electric vehicle lines. We talked about going with two more hybrid-electric vehicle lines, but we are pivoting now and going to add two battery electric [battery] lines,” Norm Bafunno, senior vice president for unit manufacturing and engineering with Toyota Motor North America, told Automotive News last week.
Though Bafunno didn’t say so directly, he admitted that the added investment was at least in part a response to passage this month of the Inflation Reduction Act, which seeks to encourage automakers to invest in battery manufacturing and materials sourcing in the U.S.
Toyota “likes to build the product where it is sold, and so we’re starting to align our footprint for electrification within this region,” he said. “It’s going to take time, and we still have a lot of work ahead.”
The plant itself is expected to open in 2025, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Toyota EVs assembled in North America by mid-decade. After all, stipulations for the full $7,500 tax credit state that an EV must be made in North America and eventually have batteries made in North America with materials sourced from U.S. trading partners. Logically, this also means that Toyota will likely establish the necessary supply chain to qualify for tax credits under incoming battery sourcing requirements. It’s worth reading our own Mercedes Streeter’s excellent article on the IRA’s requirements to get a better picture of how the EV landscape may change over the coming years.
Customer Shot By Hyundai Dealership Employee
In a shocking turn of events, Automotive News reports that a Hyundai dealership employee in Ohio shot a customer.
Police said the customer was found with a gunshot wound to the upper leg in the parking lot of Hyundai of Bedford in Ohio, with witnesses saying a service employee shot him after the two had a dispute.
The customer was taken to a Cleveland hospital following lifesaving measures from responding officers. His condition was unknown. Police told Fox 8 they didn’t believe the customer was armed.
Andrew Mach was charged with felonious assault and was being held in jail in the neighboring town of Solon, Ohio, Cleveland 19 reported. The father of the customer has asked for a restraining order.
The layers of failure that led to this event are appalling. From the dealership allowing an employee to carry a firearm on the premises to the actions of the employee, nothing that happened here is defensible in any way.
Lucid Motors Seeks To Raise An Additional $8 Billion In Funding
The current economic environment is tough on everyone, so it’s not surprising to see EV startups looking to increase working capital. Case in point, Reuters reports that Lucid Motors has filed for a new offering of up to $8 billion.
The company, which has a market capitalization of about $27 billion, halved its production forecast for electric vehicles earlier this month, blaming supply chain and logistics challenges.
Lucid filed for a mixed shelf offering, under which it may sell different types of securities in one or more separate offerings with the size, price and terms to be determined at the time of sale.
California-based Lucid, which went public via a shell company in 2021, had secured the $4.4 billion it needed until the end of 2022 but would not wait until then to raise more cash, Chief Executive Peter Rawlinson told Reuters last year.
It’s no secret that Lucid Motors has been struggling to ramp up production in the current climate of supply chain shortages, and raising more funds through an offering seems like a fairly sensible way of staying liquid. Should Lucid Motors be able to raise the full $8 billion, the injection of funds could keep things moving as the EV startup weathers the economic storm.
The Flush
Whelp, time to drop the lid on today’s edition of The Morning Dump. Happy Wednesday, everyone. We’ve made it to the middle of the week. To celebrate, let’s play a fun little fantasy garage game. Assuming an unlimited budget, pick one car that’s front-wheel-drive, one that’s rear-wheel-drive, and one that sends torque to all four tires.
Lead photo credit: Faraday Future
“Swenson had organized attempts to “push the company into bankruptcy and restructuring”.”
Huh, and here was me thinking that was the stated end goal of FF. It’s the only likely outcome of their business plan.
Citroen DS (city driver)
Tatra 603 (highway cruiser)
Land Cruiser 76 series (everywhere and anywhere)
My dream 3 car garage.
Assuming.. I had BUCKETS of cash.. to buy as I want:
RWD A MB DR520 Wagon.
RWD A Holden Commodore SS V Wagon
FWD A 92 (in brown), 95 (in green) Accord Wagon stick
AWD A 70s K-5.
If you told me the shooting car salesman story without saying what dealership, I would’ve guessed Hyundai. The only dealer that wanted me to sign paperwork BEFORE I could test-drive a car was a Hyundai dealer.
Also I’m always confused by “car people” (allegedly) calling Hyundais “good cars”.. don’t they read car news about a new Hyundai recall and/or customer class-action lawsuit almost every month for the past 5 years or so?? Sure, they’re cheap and have good warranties, but is that all it takes now?
Meh, from the linked articles the customer started the altercation with the service worker and had a history of being difficult. I’ll hold my judgment until the video is released.
Employee or not, there may be reasonable grounds that it was a self-defense situation. Should that result in shooting? No. Do you always need to remember that pretty much anyone anywhere at any time can be armed and conduct yourself accordingly? Sure do.
Yea it probably shouldn’t of rose to the level of needing to use his firearm. Logically it doesn’t seem like this should be self defense but it’s Ohio so who knows. That being said look at all the other news reports over the years of dealership employees getting shot while at work. This is why a lot of us carry. You have no idea the type of people that come in and lose their minds, ex employees included. I’ve lost count how many people we’ve had to call the police on to trespass them or bar them from our property. Obviously nothing is physically stopping them from coming back.
RWD: SPOON S2k.
AWD: Honda Element, with a Vette engine and stretched a foot.
Fwd: 66 Olds Toronado
I dont respect Electric Vehicles. I call them.. Laptops on wheels.. L.O.W. They arent cars. They dont do as you want. You dont tell them what to do. They… do as they want, without a concern to you…
So ya have more time to spend with ya head down in traffic.
FWD – Luxury vehicle with high MPG don’t really care
RWD- Funny Car or track weapon, like a Radical RXC
AWD – F-250 or F-350 for towing previous car
FWD – Avalon TRD
RWD – Corvette ZO6
AWD – Hummer EV or Lightning
Also hey, those protectionist measures in the IRA seem to be having the intended effect. Disagree with them or not, but they’re doing what they were supposed to do, which is stimulate the US battery manufacturing industry.
TIL that Faraday Future still has at least 140 employees. If I worked there, I’d have jumped ship long ago at this point. Almost anywhere else would have to be a better bet than this dumpster fire. Designing plastic silverware, for instance—at least would at least have some stability. The people working there must either be brainwashed, love drama, or be getting paid extremely well. Some combination of the above, probably.
Maybe stock options that have not yet vested?
As long as the paychecks aren’t bouncing yet it’s probably in their interest to ride out their lottery ticket.
My first thought was, even the janitors signed.
Unlimited Budget (includes maintenance, insurance and operation costs)
FWD – 1970 W-34 Toronado
RWD – 250 GTO
AWD – Lucid Sapphire
Man! It is truly a seller’s market for cars. First they were just adding insane markups, now they’re shooting customers.
Customer: “How much for the Camry?”
Dealer: “$52,000 and I get to shoot you in the left arm”
Guns don’t kill people! Car dealerships with guns kill people!
/s
At least the Faraday folks aren’t being cagey about their demands….
Oh, and one of each driveline, unlimited budget? Let’s see…
FWD: Citroën SM
RWD: Plymouth Superbird
AWD: Mazda 323GTX (gotta have a grocery-getter of some sort)
Hopefully they’ll be shielded from any repercussions while they conductive their investigation.
As a Hyundai owner, let me be the first to say absolutely nothing that their dealership network does surprises me anymore. You could tell me that one of them held customers hostage at gunpoint until they agreed to pay $15,000 over MSRP and I’d go “sounds about right”. Their current cars are amazing but their dealerships remain a crime worthy of The Hague. Also, Ohioans doing bat shit crazy things is as little of a surprise to me as Hyundai dealerships sucking. I’ve lived in that state and it’s basically the Florida of the Midwest.
I’m so goddamn sick of all of this EV startup end stage capitalism BS. All of these new companies are a scam at some level or another. It’s beyond gross to me that a bunch of tech bros can essentially get blank checks from venture capitalists for ideas, many of which never make it to production. Tens of billions of dollars are pouring into these EV startups while our healthcare system is draconian, our public transportation borders on third world, our education system is crumbling, and the vast majority of the country is living paycheck to paycheck and can’t afford rent, let alone buying. But sure, let’s send all that money into Silicon Valley to maybe, possibly produce six figure cars for social media influencers and oligarchs. Okay. Seems like a great use of everyone’s time and resources.
Anyway, unlimited budget 3 car garage?
FWD: I’m sticking with my Kona N or maybe going Elantra N. I like how the Elantra N drives better but the wife said if I was going to needlessly upgrade me car she needed it to be the “SUV” (it’s a hot hatch) so I had to compromise. Regardless I think the N cars have the most entertaining FWD powertrain out there.
RWD: 911 GT3, no question. I’d even get it in PDK too. Don’t @ me.
AWD: I feel like in this case I’d need an inclement weather/off-road able rig to round things out. I also love convertibles and the other two don’t satisfy that. So why not go all in with a Bronco Raptor.
As a current resident of Ohio it’s only gotten worse. Also, if I could infinity like your second paragraph I would. This nation has the most fucked up priorities I think I’ve ever seen.
FWD: Completely brand new 1982 Honda Accord Hatchback, Honda Red (my first car)
RWD: CTS-V Wagon 6spd
AWD: Pass. Only cowards drive AWD and carry firearms.
Koenigsegg Agera RS
Porsche 959
Chevrolet Spark, because who gives a shit I’m never gonna be driving it anyway
FWD: Citreon SM
RWD: Koenigsegg CC850
4WD: Bronco 2-door Heritage
FWD- Saab Sonnet II
RWD- Panhard CD Peugeot 66C
AWD- Type 964 Porsche 911 Carrera 4
I’m willing to give the dealership a bit of a pass. Ohio Senate Bill 215 completely changed how conceal carry works in Ohio and it only went into effect in June, its possible that the dealership may have just been lagging behind in announcing their policy (and its possible 215 removed some of their teeth in enforcing policy, not 100% sure)
In any case, how are they going to enforce it? Searches before entering the building? Every time someone enters and exits? Sure they can fire whoever is found with a gun, but usually that means they get fired after they shoot someone.
I’m gonna blame Ohio for this more than the dealership. The law they introduced is pure recklessness.
Also, you just can’t find good help these days.
Conceal carry law has no effect on whether or not a place of business can allow or disallow firearms on their property, or whether or not they can require employees to leave their boomsticks in the car rather than bring them into the building with them. This jackass may have been bringing his pet gun to work before the law was passed and no one knew it.
No, as much as I detest SB215, it’s not Ohio’s fault. There’s simply no reason why someone should be carrying a gun to work in a place like that. Period.
You nailed it, sadly. Soon it will be illegal not to carry a firearm in this shithole state.
“Assuming an unlimited budget, pick one car that’s front-wheel-drive, one that’s rear-wheel-drive, and one that sends torque to all four tires.”
I’ll take all 3 from the European Ford Transit line, because I can.
Unlimited budget:
FWD – Integra Type R
RWD – GMA T50
4WD – G65 AMG
Realistic budget:
FWD – Toyota Avalon
RWD – C8 Z06
4WD – Raptor R
2 of your reasonable cars are 90k+, and the Avalon can buck against 50k.
That’s not reasonable for 90% of buyers.
Try again.
LOL this is my list, when did I ever imply it was reasonable for anyone except myself?
Seems realistic for him, and that section was a bonus. The prompt wasn’t ‘reasonable budget for 50% of buyers’.
Anyway mine is (unlimited):
FWD: New Civic Type R
RWD: Pur Sang Bugatti Type 35
4wd: Land Cruiser G43
All he wanted was his keys back so he could leave. Now dealerships are shooting people if the don’t buy a car?
I say crap on his desk.
Most car dealershit salesmen are criminals that probably deserve to get shot themselves. Ohio should revoke the dealer’s license.
Faraday Future is a scam that needs to be Faraday Past now. Lordstown Motors is also a scam. The only new EV car companies we need now are Tesla, Rivian, maybe Lucid, and maybe a Chinese company for low-end cheap EV’s that people can actually afford.
If you don’t already have cars out, stop now! NO MORE funding to vaporware companies, and instead concentrate on the ones that have actually made production cars.
This is Ohio, where anybody can carry a weapon and police can shoot unarmed citizens dozens of times because they’re non-whites. This dealership will get a commendation from our shit stain governor for promoting gun use.
FWD: 1959 Mini Cooper S, the same one that won Monte Carlo. I would have Cosworth build me a bespoke twin cam A series to give it some pep
RWD: Ferrari F40
AWD: Monster Tajima’s twin engined Pikes Peak Suzuki Cultus
Reasonable budget:
FWD: 1994 Suzuki Swift GT
RWD: BMW 1 Series M Coupe
AWD: 2008 Subaru Sti hatchback
(I already have 2 of the 3)