Aston Martin teamed up with Faraday Future to develop Tesla-killer

Aston Martin started collaboration with LeEco--Chinese backer of the electric car start-up Faraday Future--for the same objective--development of the premium class sedan called Rapide S.

3/9/16 4:00 am chumakdenis 1

Not so long time ago Faraday Future was nothing more than a company with a bright name -- there are a lot of companies all over the world that swear to us that their vehicle is the next big thing and it will 'kill' Tesla.

However, the truth is that no one from them has managed to bring it into life and overthrone Tesla.

Jees, even GM didn't manage to do it.

How on Earth a group of mop-headed nerds could do it? --apex nerds like Elon weren't taken into account.

However, Faraday Future turned out to be something more than an ordinary start-up company.

Behind this company was standing Chinese billionaire and shortly after we saw company's very first vehicle - Faraday Future FFZero1.

 

The concept vehicle demonstrated all the advantages of up-to-date modular platform 'Variable Platform Architecture'(VPA) and the company received plenty of orders on this platform from other automakers.

It made Tesla realize that it's not the only one on EV market and the competition is so much fiercer that it was a few years ago.

And..as of now, the competition is getting even fiercer - one of FF's subdivision(LeEco) teamed up with Faraday Future for the development of the premium class sedan called Rapide S.
What a coming of age, isn't it?

It should totally ring a bell with Tesla Motors.

Let's learn more.

British automaker Aston Martin set up a venture with Chinese consumer electronics group LeEco to jointly develop the luxury car brand's first electric vehicle, an example of the deepening ties between the technology and automotive industries.

Companies like Alphabet and LeEco are developing automotive expertise because they want to broaden their reach beyond computers and cellphones into cars while automakers want Internet connectivity to give drivers live traffic updates and infotainment.

Aston Martin and LeEco said they plan to develop an electric car based on the British automaker's Rapide S model, before developing other potential electric vehicles, including for LeEco. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

"It brings Aston Martin's electric car project forward" - Aston Martin Chief Executive Andy Palmer said at a news conference in Frankfurt, adding it would come to market in 2018, and be built in Gaydon, England.

LeEco, a consumer electronics company which offers branded content via the Internet, television set top boxes and smartphones, hopes to use its captive audience and celebrity endorsements to promote cars in future.

"In China, we have around 300 million people who visit our website. We could advertise the Aston Martin for free and we can use celebrities to promote our vehicle. This is the way we do business" - said Lei Ding, co-founder of LeEco's auto division.

*Lei Ding previously held senior positions at joint ventures of Volkswagen and General Motors in China.

Variable Platform Architecture

The electric car development platform by Aston and LeEco could also be used by Faraday Future, a start-up electric car firm backed by Chinese billionaire Jia Yueting, the companies said.

"Aston can offer expertise in ride, handling refinement and those sorts of things" - Palmer said.

Pollution problems

China's government is also promoting electric vehicles to cut the smog that frequently envelops its cities, which officials say helped sales quadruple last year and has turned China into the world's biggest market.

Here's one vivid example of how seriously they take it -- an electric car joint venture of Taiwan's Hon Hai, China's Tencent and China Harmony Auto Holding said this month it was hiring former BMW executive Carsten Breitfeld to lead it.

Just try to imagine how big the salary should be to lure higher former from BMW and how much funding there should be.

Harmony Futeng, launched last March, is one of several Chinese tech companies trying to develop "smart" and electric vehicles. These include Alibaba, Baidu and Leshi Internet Information and Technology Corp Beijing, recently rebranded as LeEco.

Production

The Rapid S is expected to be in production by 2018.

Price remains unknown yet, but it's bound to cost less than Model S.

More details on specs and other stuff are coming.

Will Rapide S overthrone Tesla?

Will Faraday Future make a hit with this car?Why?

Leave your comments on that in the comment section below.