LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 13, 2025--
Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. (Nasdaq: FFAI) (“FF”, “Faraday Future”, or the “Company”), a California-based global shared intelligent electric mobility ecosystem company, today announced that Univest Securities, LLC, a boutique investment banking firm located in New York City, has signed a leasing contract for an FF 91 2.0. This paves the way for both FF as well as the potential for future FX models in the East Coast, which includes the world’s leading financial hub. This first New York delivery to Univest is scheduled to occur by the end of this March.
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This marks FF’s official entry into the East Coast market and also serves as a strategic foundation for FF’s future market expansion, potentially opening doors to a broader high-end user base in the area.
The New York State market represents a growth opportunity for both FF and, eventually, FX, given its status as one of the world’s largest and most influential economic hubs as well as a growth market for EVs. Expanding into this market could not only enable FF and FX to establish and strengthen their positions within the U.S. EV industry but also increase brand visibility. FF is working closely with stakeholders to refine Company offerings and ensure the best services are provided to customers.
“The East Coast market represents a significant opportunity for both FF and our future FX brand, and we are excited that Univest has both joined the FF family and will also help us establish a presence in New York and on Wall Street,” said Matthias Aydt, Global CEO of Faraday Future. “This is not just another sale for the Company, it is a milestone—placing our first car in New York lays the foundation for not only additional sales of the FF 91 2.0 but also for potential future FX models.”
ABOUT FARADAY FUTURE
Faraday Future is a California-based global shared intelligent electric mobility ecosystem company. Founded in 2014, the Company’s mission is to disrupt the automotive industry by creating a user-centric, technology-first, and smart driving experience. Faraday Future’s flagship model, the FF 91 2.0 Futurist Alliance, exemplifies its vision for luxury, innovation, and performance. The new FX strategy aims to introduce mass production models equipped with state-of-the-art luxury technology similar to the FF 91 2.0, targeting a broader market with middle-to-low price range offerings. For more information, please visit https://www.ff.com/us/.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release includes “forward looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words “estimates,” “projected,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “forecasts,” “plans,” “intends,” “believes,” “seeks,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “future,” “propose” and variations of these words or similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions) are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements, which include statements regarding starting vehicle leasing and opening an office in the New York Metro area, expanding its footprint, and developing the FX brand, are not guarantees of future performance, conditions or results, and involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are outside the Company’s control, that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Important factors, among others, that may affect actual results or outcomes include, among others: the Company’s ability to timely complete and release the vehicle intended for Univest Securities; the Company’s ability to secure a lease on terms that it believes are reasonable; the Company’s ability to financially support an office in the New York Metro area; the ability to comply with New York rules and regulations around automobile sales, leasing and servicing rules and regulations; the Company’s reliance on third parties for vehicle sales, leasing and servicing efforts in New York State; the Company’s ability to secure the necessary funding to execute on the FX strategy, which will be substantial; the Company's ability to secure necessary agreements to license and/or produce FX vehicles none of which have been secured; the Company's ability to homologate FX vehicles for sale; the Company's ability to secure necessary permits at its Hanford, CA production facility; the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern and improve its liquidity and financial position; and the Company’s ability to pay its outstanding obligations. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors, and the other risks and uncertainties described in the “Risk Factors” section of the Company’s Form 10-K filed with the SEC on May 28, 2024, as amended on May 30, 2024, and June 24, 2024, as updated by the “Risk Factors” section of the Company’s first quarter 2024 Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on July 30, 2024, and other documents filed by the Company from time to time with the SEC.
Faraday Future Announces First Lease of an FF 91 2.0 Futurist Alliance and Official Entry in the New York Market, With the Scheduled Delivery to Occur End of March. (Photo: Business Wire)
NEW YORK (AP) — Reviving a campaign pledge, President Donald Trump wants a one-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates, a move that could save Americans tens of billions of dollars but drew immediate opposition from an industry that has been in his corner.
Trump was not clear in his social media post Friday night whether a cap might take effect through executive action or legislation, though one Republican senator said he had spoken with the president and would work on a bill with his “full support.” Trump said he hoped it would be in place Jan. 20, one year after he took office.
Strong opposition is certain from Wall Street in addition to the credit card companies, which donated heavily to his 2024 campaign and have supported Trump's second-term agenda. Banks are making the argument that such a plan would most hurt poor people, at a time of economic concern, by curtailing or eliminating credit lines, driving them to high-cost alternatives like payday loans or pawnshops.
“We will no longer let the American Public be ripped off by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Researchers who studied Trump’s campaign pledge after it was first announced found that Americans would save roughly $100 billion in interest a year if credit card rates were capped at 10%. The same researchers found that while the credit card industry would take a major hit, it would still be profitable, although credit card rewards and other perks might be scaled back.
About 195 million people in the United States had credit cards in 2024 and were assessed $160 billion in interest charges, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says. Americans are now carrying more credit card debt than ever, to the tune of about $1.23 trillion, according to figures from the New York Federal Reserve for the third quarter last year.
Further, Americans are paying, on average, between 19.65% and 21.5% in interest on credit cards according to the Federal Reserve and other industry tracking sources. That has come down in the past year as the central bank lowered benchmark rates, but is near the highs since federal regulators started tracking credit card rates in the mid-1990s. That’s significantly higher than a decade ago, when the average credit card interest rate was roughly 12%.
The Republican administration has proved particularly friendly until now to the credit card industry.
Capital One got little resistance from the White House when it finalized its purchase and merger with Discover Financial in early 2025, a deal that created the nation’s largest credit card company. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is largely tasked with going after credit card companies for alleged wrongdoing, has been largely nonfunctional since Trump took office.
In a joint statement, the banking industry was opposed to Trump's proposal.
“If enacted, this cap would only drive consumers toward less regulated, more costly alternatives," the American Bankers Association and allied groups said.
Bank lobbyists have long argued that lowering interest rates on their credit card products would require the banks to lend less to high-risk borrowers. When Congress enacted a cap on the fee that stores pay large banks when customers use a debit card, banks responded by removing all rewards and perks from those cards. Debit card rewards only recently have trickled back into consumers' hands. For example, United Airlines now has a debit card that gives miles with purchases.
The U.S. already places interest rate caps on some financial products and for some demographics. The Military Lending Act makes it illegal to charge active-duty service members more than 36% for any financial product. The national regulator for credit unions has capped interest rates on credit union credit cards at 18%.
Credit card companies earn three streams of revenue from their products: fees charged to merchants, fees charged to customers and the interest charged on balances. The argument from some researchers and left-leaning policymakers is that the banks earn enough revenue from merchants to keep them profitable if interest rates were capped.
"A 10% credit card interest cap would save Americans $100 billion a year without causing massive account closures, as banks claim. That’s because the few large banks that dominate the credit card market are making absolutely massive profits on customers at all income levels," said Brian Shearer, director of competition and regulatory policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, who wrote the research on the industry's impact of Trump's proposal last year.
There are some historic examples that interest rate caps do cut off the less creditworthy to financial products because banks are not able to price risk correctly. Arkansas has a strictly enforced interest rate cap of 17% and evidence points to the poor and less creditworthy being cut out of consumer credit markets in the state. Shearer's research showed that an interest rate cap of 10% would likely result in banks lending less to those with credit scores below 600.
The White House did not respond to questions about how the president seeks to cap the rate or whether he has spoken with credit card companies about the idea.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who said he talked with Trump on Friday night, said the effort is meant to “lower costs for American families and to reign in greedy credit card companies who have been ripping off hardworking Americans for too long."
Legislation in both the House and the Senate would do what Trump is seeking.
Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., released a plan in February that would immediately cap interest rates at 10% for five years, hoping to use Trump’s campaign promise to build momentum for their measure.
Hours before Trump's post, Sanders said that the president, rather than working to cap interest rates, had taken steps to deregulate big banks that allowed them to charge much higher credit card fees.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., have proposed similar legislation. Ocasio-Cortez is a frequent political target of Trump, while Luna is a close ally of the president.
Seung Min Kim reported from West Palm Beach, Fla.
President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, Jan. 9, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
FILE - Visa and Mastercard credit cards are shown in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Feb. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
