The Chinese billionaire behind Faraday Future just got a grim reality check

Faraday Future’s concept vehicle FFZERO1 is unveiled at an event before the start of the Consumer Electronics Show on Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, in a parking lot across the street from the Luxor.

A new memo from Chinese tech billionaire Jia Yueting shows him finally recognizing how overambitious he’s been with his mysterious electric and autonomous car startups Faraday Future and LeEco. Worryingly, it’s unclear if he can get them the money they need, or if things are about to go from bad to worse.

Ever since Faraday Future and LeEco emerged on our collective radar, we wondered how they were getting sufficient funding to break into the notoriously expensive world of making cars.

Faraday Future showed up about a year ago, only to receive widespread criticism over a rocket-like car that debuted at CES despite being not meant for actual production—though it swears an actual car is coming soon. FF is heavily backed by Jia Yueting, but his company is also launching its own car line dubbed Le Eco, one that had a very unfortunate U.S. unveiling last month.

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So I’m not sure if this reality check from Jia is particularly heartening for Jia’s car business LeEco or its technical partner Faraday Future, which has gotten $335 million in tax breaks from the state of Nevada to fund a billion-dollar factory in the state. It still needs state support for a few minor additions, such as power lines, water lines and roads. It was also recently in the news for being a solid $21 million late on payments to its construction company.

Read more: http://jalopnik.com/the-chinese-billionaire-behind-faraday-future-just-got-1788657774