What happened

The name Faraday Future Intelligent Electric (FFIE 14.41%) might be quite a mouthful, but it was sweet music to investors on Thursday. The niche electric-vehicle (EV) maker saw its shares rocket slightly over 18% higher on the day, thanks to a rather encouraging corporate update issued late in the trading day.

So what

Faraday Future said in a press release that its plans to deliver the first of its vehicles in the third quarter of this year should be realized. It said its factory in Hanford, California is coming along "at an impressive pace" and will be able to fulfill the company's ambitions to roll out its flagship FF 91 EV at that time.

Hand holding a charger as it charges an electric vehicle.

Image source: Getty Images.

According to Faraday Future, Hanford is to be "a state-of-the-art facility that combines highly skilled craftsmanship with leading-edge automated production processes to rival the top luxury automakers of the world." This was the good news the company's shareholders badly needed to hear. Last November, the company received notice of potential delisting from Nasdaq after it failed to make a quarterly earnings filing on time.

The EV manufacturer was also the target of a scathing report from an entity called J Capital Research. Titled bluntly "Move Over Lordstown: There's a New EV Scam in Town," the report accused the company of misleading the public on the realization of planned factory build-outs.

Now what

Last week, the company submitted the findings of an internal investigation into its financial reporting in time to meet the delisting deadline imposed by Nasdaq. Faraday Future found that its management failed to meet "a commitment to maintain integrity and ethical values."

In filing the report, Faraday Future has escaped stock market oblivion for now. Investors are clearly optimistic that Nasdaq won't pull the trigger on pulling the shares. They also seem to be buying the company's assertions that the first FF 91s will indeed hit the road next quarter.