Faraday Future named former Jaguar Land Rover executive Xuefeng "Chris" Chen as the chief executive of its China division as the company prepares to enter the world's largest electric vehicle market and develop its binational market strategy.
With a new Chinese investor, Faraday is focused on developing its market in China, which is over triple the size of the U.S. market, according to a 2019 report by the International Energy Agency.
"Chris is a critical hire to the realization of FF's US-China dual home strategy," said Global Faraday Future CEO Carsten Breitfeld in a statement announcing the appointment. "I am confident that his comprehensive management acumen and operational experience in luxury car brands will accelerate the implementation of FF's business in China and will be beneficial to FF's global strategic development."
Prior to joining Faraday, Chen served as the executive vice president of Chery Jaguar Land Rover Automotive. He had been promoted from executive vice president of manufacturing, becoming the youngest executive running China-side business in an automotive joint venture.
The Los Angeles startup is expected to go public by midyear in a deal that values it at $3.4 billion. Its anchor investor is Hangzhou, China-based Geely Holding Group, an automotive manufacturing company that has plans to spend almost $5 billion to build an electric battery plant in China, Reuters reported earlier this week.
Faraday will use Geely's manufacturing services and technology and engineering support to develop its base in China.
Faraday is also preparing to roll out its flagship product one year after going public. The FF 91 is an all-electric, autonomous ready luxury vehicle that boasts more than 300 miles per charge and a 1050 horsepower.
It's expected to go into production later this year.
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