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TECHNOLOGY Friday 14 July 2017

Experts: Scrapped electric-car plant may mean industry woes

By ALISON NOON Faraday’s announcement
Associated Press came days after reports
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — that a Shanghai court froze
An electric car maker de- more than $180 million in
serted its plan to construct assets belonging to one
a $1 billion manufacturing of the company’s biggest
plant in southern Nevada backers, tech billionaire Jia
in a move experts say Yueting. The company said
could spell trouble for the that Jia’s financial prob-
company and the broader lems were not related to
niche electric automobile the decision.
industry. Jia stepped down last
The decision to scrap the week from the helm of
plant was due to a shift in the publicly traded arm of
business strategy, Faraday LeEco, the Beijing-based
Future Chief Financial Of- conglomerate he founded
ficer Stefan Krause said over a decade ago. At the
Monday. The Gardena, same time, he reaffirmed
California-based company his commitment to Faraday
said in a statement that it Future.
will look for an existing fa- The company is attempting
cility to produce its electric an exceptionally expensive
vehicles in California or Ne- feat — one that Tesla has
vada. In this Jan. 3, 2017, file photo, Faraday Future’s FF 91 electric car is unveiled during a news not pulled off, Autotrader
Faraday Future halted work conference at CES International in Las Vegas. Associated Press executive analyst Michelle
on the project outside Las Krebs said.
Vegas last November, at spending money and mov- a freefall here?” tric options and it’s unclear “Tesla has sold vehicles, but
the time calling the stop- ing things forward in their He and others who closely whether President Donald it’s not made any money,
page a “temporary adjust- claimed goals will suddenly watch the industry said Trump’s administration will and that whole segment is
ment” that would not af- change direction and still the decision comes amid continue tax breaks that not doing particularly well,”
fect plans to begin produc- get to where they want to several industry changes incentivize the industry and Krebs said. “You’ve got
tion in 2018. It sunk more get to,” said Karl Brauer, that could drastically af- motivate buyers. an industry that is capital-
than $120 million into the executive publisher at Au- fect companies like Fara- “I think the next 12 months intensive and you’ve got
project. totrader and Kelley Blue day and Tesla that offer are going to be very tell- an electric-vehicle mar-
“It can be somewhat hard Book. “You kind of don’t uniquely all-electric lineups. ing,” Brauer said. “It could ket that is kind of shaky, so
to believe that a company know — is this just an adjust- Established car companies drastically change the look those two things probably
that was so aggressively ment or is there going to be are releasing more elec- of the electric car industry.” are at play.”q

French court annuls Google’s

$1.27 billion back tax bill

By PHILIPPE SOTTO a “permanent establish- noted that the ads ordered
Associated Press ment” in France via the by French clients could not
PARIS (AP) — A French court French company Google be put online by the em-
annulled a 1.1 billion-euro France, another subsidiary ployees of Google France
($1.27 billion) tax adjust- of California-based Google themselves because any
ment imposed on Google Inc. ad orders ultimately need-
by France’s tax authorities, The court added that ed approval from Google
saying Wednesday that Google France doesn’t Ireland Limited.
the way the California firm have the human resourc- During a hearing in the tax
operates in France allows es or the technical means case last month, an inde- In this file photo dated Wednesday, May 17, 2017, Google CEO
it to be exempt from most to allow it to carry out the pendent magistrate pro- Sundar Pichai delivers the keynote address for the Google I/O
taxes. contentious advertising ser- posed that the most fitting conference in Mountain View, Calif. USA.
The French tax adminis- vices on its own. solution for the dispute was Associated Press
tration had argued that The French government wiping out, but pointed to to settle a case in Britain. A mizing practices.
Google was required to can appeal the decision. the “shortcomings of the U.K. parliamentary commit- Wednesday’s ruling comes
pay taxes in France for Google has minimized its current legal basis.” tee has said the settlement amid mounting criticism
2005-2010 because the tax bill in France and oth- France is not the only Eu- seemed disproportionately that the tech firms and
American company and er European countries by ropean country where small given the size of the other major U.S. companies
its Irish subsidiary sold a ser- keeping its headquarters Google has been at odds company’s operations in have scrimped on their tax
vice for inserting online ads in Ireland, where rates are with national tax authorities. Britain. bills through a variety of ac-
to clients in France through lower. The company agreed to Google, Apple, Facebook counting maneuvers that
its Google search engine. The strategy has helped pay 306 million euros ($349 and Amazon — a group of have rankled governments
But the Paris administrative Google boost its profits and million) to settle an ongoing firms known by the acro- around the world.
court ruled that Google Ire- stock price. dispute with Italy and 130 nym GAFA — have been Google has said it never
land Limited doesn’t have In their ruling, the judges million pounds ($167 million) criticized for their tax-opti- broke any laws.q