FF (Faraday Future) is an American new energy vehicle company founded by Jia Yueting, and its first model, FF 91, is known as the "Tesla killer", with ultra-high performance and intelligence. HiPhi X, a Chinese new energy vehicle company founded by Ding Lei, has been called the "Chinese version of the FF 91" and is very similar in appearance and function. The relationship between these two companies can be summed up in one sentence: they are both relatives and enemies.
Legal gas station
The relationship between FF and Gaohe Automobile can be traced back to 2015, when Jia Yueting was still the head of LeEco, and he launched a car-making program in China and the United States at the same time, namely LeEco Super Car and FF. He brought Ding Lei into the team of LeEco Super Auto and appointed him as the co-founder, global vice chairman and CEO of China and Asia Pacific of LeEco Super Auto. Ding Lei used to be a senior automotive engineer, who had worked in well-known automobile companies such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW, and was regarded by Jia Yueting as an important talent in car manufacturing.
However, with the rupture of LeTV's capital chain, Jia Yueting's dream of building a car also suffered a major setback. The LeEco super car project has come to a standstill, FF's funds are also in an emergency, and Jia Yueting is listed as a dishonest person subject to execution and cannot return to China. Under such circumstances, Ding Lei chose to leave LeTV and founded his own car company, Gaohe Automobile. He took away a group of employees of LeTV Super Cars, and also took away some FF technical information. According to Jia Yueting's allegations, Ding Lei took away a full set of design drawings of FF 91, including the detailed parameters and dimensions of the body, chassis, battery, motor, gearbox, suspension, brakes, steering, lights, doors, windows, roof, interior space, seats, dashboard, steering wheel, center console, air conditioning, audio, navigation, on-board system and other parts.
With these drawings, Ding Lei established Gaohe Automobile in August 2017 and began his road to car manufacturing. His goal is to build a smart electric car that rivals the FF 91 and is called HiPhi X. In just three years, he designed, developed, produced and launched the HiPhi X. The appearance and function of the HiPhi X are strikingly similar to the FF 91, not only the model, body size, wheels, lights, doors, windows, roof and other parts are almost identical, but also the seats, dashboard, steering wheel, center console, air conditioning, audio, navigation, car system and other parts of the car are also highly similar to the FF 91. The performance and intelligence of the HiPhi X also claim to surpass the FF 91, such as range, acceleration time, autonomous driving, artificial intelligence, the Internet, cloud computing, etc.
Such plagiarism naturally aroused Jia Yueting's anger and dissatisfaction. In August 2020, he published a long article through social **, denouncing the immorality and unfair competition of Ding Lei and Gaohe Automobile, calling them "a shame for the industry", and said that he would protect the legitimate rights and interests of FF through legal means. He also posted a comparison chart of FF 91 and Hiphi X to prove their degree of plagiarism. He said that he doesn't mind having competitors, but he can't tolerate plagiarists, and he wants the world to see clearly who is the real innovator and who is the shameless copycat.
Ding Lei and Gaohe Automobile have always adopted an attitude of denial and counterattack against Jia Yueting's accusations. They believe that the similarities between FF 91 and HiPhi X are only superficial coincidences, and in fact, their technologies and innovations are independently developed and do not infringe any of FF's trade secrets and intellectual property rights. They also accused Jia Yueting of using this to hype up and divert FF's internal crisis and negativity. They said that FF's car-making project has been postponed for many years and is still facing multiple problems such as funding, management, and law, and that Hiphi Automobile has successfully launched HiPhi X and has been recognized by the market and users, which is a fact that Jia Yueting cannot accept, so he will make insulting remarks in an attempt to smear Hihe Automobile and destroy their reputation and development.
In order to resolve the dispute, Jia Yueting formally filed a lawsuit with the court, demanding that Ding Lei and Gaohe Motors stop infringing on FF 91's trade secrets, compensate for the corresponding losses, and publicly apologize. This is the first formal legal showdown between FF and Hi-Hop Automobile, and a major lawsuit in China's new energy vehicle industry. The outcome of this lawsuit will have a significant impact on the future of FF and Gaohe Automobile, and will also have a profound impact on the development and competitive landscape of China's new energy vehicle industry.