Daily News: Monday 8/7/17

Faraday Future Gets Physical (Location)Faraday Future, the electric vehicle company who has yet to produce a vehicle, has taken one more step to being able to produce a product with the purchase of a physical production facility. Originally, the EV company was going to build their own million-square-foot facility in Las Vegas, creating around 14,000 total jobs, however cash flow problems have disrupted these plans. Most of these financial constraints come from the downturn the CEO, Jia Yueting, has begun to experience in his own finances, which were being used to fund the company. Faraday Future purchased the ex-Pirelli facility in Hanford, California, around 200 miles north of Las Angeles. The facility purchased is not much smaller than the facility that was planned, as the ex-Pirelli plant also nears a million-square-feet. The fact that Pirelli used to own it is slightly ironic, as the two companies are in a legal dispute over the use of the word “Zero”.

This facility will be used to produce the future line of vehicles Faraday Future plans to offer, beginning with their 2.39sec 0-60, 130kw battery pack-equipped FF91 four-door sedan, pictured above.

Genesis Updates Product RoadmapAs a fairly new company, Genesis does not have the most expansive lineup of vehicles (only 2), and rather than rushing inferior products to market, they are detailing their future releases to customers. In the spirit of this practice, the company had already revealed their future three cars, and yesterday have added a fourth to the roadmap. The current three cars planned over the existing full-size sedan G90 and mid-size G80 will be kicked off with the launch of the smaller, 3-Series fighting G70 later this year. By 2020, the brand plans to release two SUV’s in the form of the full-size GV80 (concept pictured) and the slightly smaller GV70. The new product announced is a logical step for Genesis, as it takes the form of a smaller SUV/CUV which has yet to be named—not that it would be hard to guess. Once all of the planned vehicles are launched by 2021, Genesis will have a full line-up, assuming they also announce a new Genesis Coupe.

I want a 5.0L ‘Tau’-equipped Genesis Coupe already!

Bye, Bye Electric BMercedes has confirmed that one of their few all-electric offerings (Smart EV), the B-class Electric Drive, or B250e in modern nomenclature, will no longer be offered after the 2017 model year. As the only way to get the B-class in America, the model has begun to feel long in the tooth, mainly due to its lack of range compared to modern EV’s. In an odd twist, the B-class’ power pack—batteries and motors—are produced in California by Tesla, and shipped to Germany, and I imagine sent straight back to a waiting mom in California. Despite Tesla’s involvement, the B-class only has a 87-mile range, with no ability to fast charge, and mostly existed to fulfill Mercedes’ ZEV-mandate responsibilities in the state of California. The B-class is slated to be replaced by an entire Mercedes sub-brand dubbed ‘EQ’, which is expected to launch a vehicle soon in the form of a GLC-sized EV with nearly 310 miles of range.

Such a change is needed if Mercedes is going to meet their self-stated goal of having 25% of their total sales comprise of EV’s. The B-class certainly wasn’t going to get them there.