Online TV broadcaster backing Faraday Future

The identities of the senior staff managing Faraday Future have been disclosed by a popular technology-focussed website in the USA.

According to techcrunch.com, information from different sources has revealed the secretive EV manufacturer is backed by LeTV, a Chinese company providing online video downloads to paying clients, much in the same way as Netflix does.

Faraday Future, the start-up company committed to building and selling high-spec electric vehicles to compete with Tesla, is based in Gardena, California. When the company's office premises changed hands last year, a website operated by multinational real estate brand Colliers reported the street address had been acquired by LeTV.

When Faraday Future first surfaced, the company promoted the fact it had headhunted experts in the field of developing and marketing prestige EVs. But the identity of the company's CEO remained a closely guarded secret.

It was this very secrecy that led some to speculate that the backer for Faraday Future was Apple. This speculation was kicked along when Apple – known to be carrying out its own EV development programme – refused to confirm or deny the rumours.

Last year, the chairman of LeTV, Jia Yueting, went on record announcing LeTV's pet EV programme would be funded to the tune of US $1.2 billion from Jia cashing in his own shares and lending the proceeds back to the company. Media outlets and reporters apparently presumed that the resulting car would be a small passenger vehicle specifically for the Chinese market.

Techcrunch.com has learned through LinkedIn that the identity of Faraday Future's CEO is none other than Deng Chaoying, who is a director at Le Vision Pictures, itself a subsidiary of LeTV.

There's nothing on public record as to why LeTV has been so wary of disclosing its involvement, but the Techcrunch story surmises that the company doesn't want Faraday Future to be perceived by the buying public as a Chinese brand. And there's disharmony within the company ranks, the story indicates. Some staff are reportedly unhappy with plans to offer a Model S competitor at a position above US $100,000, which is US $30,000 more than the entry point for the Tesla.

Marcus Nelson, the company's former head of communications, departed two months ago, and apparently he is not alone in voting with his feet.