Faraday Future Hires Former Director of Product Quality at GM North America

As the upstart electric automaker Faraday Future (FF) continues to work towards production of its advanced FF91 ultra-luxury electric SUV, the company continues to recruit auto industry veterans.

The company today announced the hiring of Herbert "Butch" Darrow as Vice President of Quality, based in North America. Darrow most recently worked for Philips where he led product, idea to market excellence, and product security, as well as serving as General Manager of Philips Innovation Services.

Prior to working at Philips, Darrow he spent over twenty years at General Motors, most recently as the Director of Product Quality for GM North America. Darrow will report directly to founder and Global CEO Jia "YT" Yueting.

Darrow's experience in automotive manufacturing could be valuable to Faraday Future, as the company gets closer to production of the FF91. Darrow received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University in 1992 and a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT in 1994.

"Butch's skillset perfectly complements FF's innovation-driven atmosphere, bringing together the best of tech and automotive industries to create a new species of car," said Johnson Qiang, VP of Human Resources. "Butch's role within FF is crucial as we move toward launching our first vehicle, the hyper-performance Faraday Future FF 91 ultra-luxury EV, in the first half of 2019."

Darrow began his career at General Motors in chassis systems engineering, which led to roles as a manufacturing engineer, body shop launch manager, vehicle systems engineer, and vehicle line director.

Darrow brings nearly three decades of engineering and product quality experience with him from both automotive and tech sectors. At FF, Darrow will be responsible for maintaining both internal and supplier quality, quickly implementing learnings to drive product excellence, along with streamlining quality and validation processes to ensure customer satisfaction.

"FF is a truly global company, with its headquarters in California and its people coming from all over the world to bring the twin visions of the FF 91 and of a global connected ecosystem into reality," said Darrow. "I'm excited to be part of that reality with FF, and thereby to be a part of the team that gets to help redefine what smart, clean mobility should be."

Darrow added: "As someone who prides himself on spurring innovation with an attention to detail and a strong focus on Quality, I'm delighted to have the opportunity to help lead FF to the next of many milestones to come."

Darrow joins a growing roster of experienced leaders joining FF from companies like Apple, Google, Honda, General Motors, Ford and Tesla.

FF has assembled a team of approximately 2,000 global top talent, including more than 1,200 employees based in the U.S. In addition, FF is beginning an aggressive hiring plan in the U.S. for more top talent, including more than 1,000 new hires over the next several months.

The FF91 is expected to have a 130 kWh battery pack with a range of nearly 300 miles, as well as three electric motors providing 1,050 horsepower. FF says the FF91 can accelerate from 0-60 mph in just 2.39 seconds and will come autonomous ready.

FF says its team turned the original FF 91 concept into a production ready vehicle in approximately 2.5 years. The company has developed six technological revolutions for the FF91, including the vehicle platform, computing platform, autonomous driving technology, powertrain, Internet connectivity, and artificial intelligence. The first pre-production model rolled off the assembly line in August.

The company was established in 2014 and is headquartered in Los Angeles with R&D centers and offices in Silicon Valley, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. The electric carmaker plans to begin production on the FF91 in the first half of 2019.