Stock Soars After Faraday Future Announces Luxury EV Production Date

It has been a difficult time for electric vehicle start-ups recently. Progress is still being made by some of them.

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The ultra-luxury FF 91 sedan will go into production by the end of March according to Faraday Future Intelligent Electric FFIE +4.75% (ticker: FFIE). It is expected that deliveries will begin in April. After securing $135 million in additional funding, the company announced the move.

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FF 91 will cost around $200,000 and comes with a large video screen in the back seat for watching movies or taking internet calls.

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The start of production "will undoubtedly be the most significant historic moment for FF since its founding," said CEO Chen Xuefeng.” FF 91 Futurist's funding commitments have now been received, and all the equipment required to build it has been acquired."

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In pre-market trading, the shares of the company were up 9.2% at 64 cents per share. Both the S&P 500SPX -0.92% and the Dow Jones Industrial AverageDJIA -1.02% futures fell by about 0.7%, respectively.

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Shares have gained approximately $60 million in market value as a result of the jump. The stock of Faraday Future is still down about 97% from its record high of $20.75 a shared set in February of 2021.

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As the company announced plans to merge with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, just before the high in stock prices occurred, the company was at a high. It provided Faraday with almost a billion dollars in the capital as a result of this deal.

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The company's cash position at the end of the third quarter was less than $100 million.

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There's a high cost associated with starting a car company, and the stock price of many of the EV start-ups has fallen significantly as the initial cash balances raised to commercialize the new cars have dwindled as well. Lordstown Motor RIDE +1.15% (RIDE), Arrival (ARVL), and Canoo (GOEV) all have shares in the stock market that are down more than 95% from their record highs over the last few years.

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There are only three electric passenger vehicle start-ups remaining with market capitalizations above $10 billion: Rivian Automotive (RIVN), Lucid LCID -4.19% (LCID), and Polestar Automotive (PSNY).

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Compared to their record highs, Rivian and Lucid shares have fallen more than 80%. From its record high, Polestar stock is down more than 60%.

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EV makers have lost roughly $240 billion in market value due to declines in their stock prices.