The Onetime 'Tesla Killer' Abandons Plans to Build Vallejo Car Factory

Electric car startup Faraday Future has scrapped a deal with the city of Vallejo to build a vehicle plant on the north end of Mare Island.

The move comes 10 months after the City Council approved the company's plans to create a factory on a 150-acre site on the former naval shipyard.

Faraday Future, at the time, said the plant would create hundreds of jobs and pump millions of dollars into Vallejo's economy years after the city filed for bankruptcy protection.

But the outlook for the Gardena-based company, which some had believed would compete with Tesla, began to dim, something Vallejo noticed.

"For the last few months we've had some concerns about how they were moving forward towards production of their new vehicle," said Andrea Ouse, Vallejo's community and economic development director, in an interview Friday. "We're disappointed."

Faraday, in a statement, said it wants to focus on its Nevada plant.

"Due to the new strategy to focus corporate efforts on development of its first production vehicle and plant in North Las Vegas, Faraday Future (FF) has decided to end its Exclusive Right to Negotiate with the City of Vallejo," the statement said. "FF will stay in contact with the City, and remains interested in acquiring land on North Mare Island in the future."

But Vallejo is not waiting.

City staff in the coming months plan to start looking for other businesses to set up shop at the site.

Faraday conducted technical studies on the land -- research the city and other firms can benefit from, Ouse said.

The company's initial desire to move onto Mare Island spurred other businesses to take a look at Vallejo as well.

"There's been a lot of upside to Faraday coming to the table and expressing such interest in Vallejo," Ouse said. "It has daylighted the opportunities that are apparent in Vallejo right now for development. We are open for new businesses to come and relocate and expand."

City officials say Mare Island is currently home to more than 100 businesses.