Faraday, an affiliate of Beijing-based Leshi Internet Information and Technology Corp, has also pared its planned product portfolio down from seven to two vehicles, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the company's plans.

Faraday will build a much smaller auto assembly facility than originally planned in North Las Vegas, Nevada, a city official said late on Tuesday.

North Las Vegas city manager Qiong Liu said Faraday told the city it will build a 650,000-square-foot (60,390-square-meter) facility, beginning later this year, on the site of a plant originally planned to take up 3 million square feet.

The downsizing follows an acknowledgment last fall by the company's founder, Chinese tech entrepreneur Jia Yueting, that his global operations were overextended. Former Faraday executives have said the company struggled with cash flow issues almost from its inception.

At least a dozen key U.S. executives have departed Faraday in the last nine months, according to the company and several of those executives.

In a statement, Faraday said it still plans to eventually construct the larger plant, but gave no timetable.

Faraday is still hiring contractors to begin building the factory shell, according to a source familiar with the plans, but there is no firm date for completion.

"We remain committed to the State of Nevada and are continuing our $1 billion investment in the region over the next few years," Faraday said in the statement.

Faraday announced plans in December 2015 to build its first auto factory in Nevada, with an annual capacity of 150,000 and a planned opening in late 2017. Documents submitted to the state showed a planned investment of $1.3 billion.