Spread across 10 years, armed with three car manufacturing startups, Jia Yueting plans on taking on Tesla Motors’s Model S and Model X with its LeSee Pro, which will be showcased in CES 2017.
In CES 2017, 3 electric car startups funded by Jia Yueting, a Chinese billionaire, is set to go on display at the trade show in Las Vegas next month.
The three companies have yet to disclose how they plan on funding their efforts to challenge Tesla Motors Inc, the dominant player in the electric luxury vehicle market.
Of the 3 companies, Faraday Future, disclosed it will be showcasing it first production vehicle, which is slated to go in production in early 2018.
Within the company the vehicle is referred to as Project 91. Sources from the company have described it as a large luxury sedan which is slated to be priced from $150,000-$200,000.
Tesla’s offerings are more competitive.
Its second offering, a model that is internally referred to as Project 81, is a mid-size crossover slotted in size, priced between Tesla’s Model S and Model X.
Faraday’s third offering will debut in 2020. It will be much less expensive than its predecessors.
A spokesperson from Faraday declined to comment on details.
Significantly Faraday had started constructing an assembly plant for $1 billion outside Las Vegas. Work however stopped in November. As per Nevada state officials, the company missed several payments to the building contractor.
Last month, in November, Jia had said the third electric vehicle company that he is backing, LeEco, is facing a shortage of cash and was suffering from having expanded in too many directions, too fast. However, weeks later, Leshi Holdings, LeEco’s parent, had stated it had secured commitments worth $600 million from China to support LeEco.
As per estimates from the three companies, each manufacturing plan is expected to cost at least $3.5 billion.
Sources familiar with Jia’s strategy, further reveal, design and engineering costs alone could hike up startup costs by a cool $1 billion if not more.
Headquartered in San Jose, LeEco, had announced plans to build its own $1.8 billion factory in Hangzhou, China. It also plans on showcasing its offering, LeSEE Pro, at CES 2017.
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