Faraday Future has had a rough journey, but now it wants to turn things around. On Tuesday, the electric automaker held a suppliers’ summit to convince investors that the future looks bright for the company that has so far failed to release a single car. As part of its presentation, Faraday Future teased plans to revolutionize the industry, including a renewed look at the FF 91 sports utility vehicle
“FF 91 is a new species. It’s more than an electric car – it’s the third Internet living space,” said Jia Yueting, CEO of Faraday Future. “It would be impossible to deliver a ground-breaking vehicle like FF 91 without alignment with our top suppliers. Hosting innovative leaders in automotive and technology realms will help us successfully create momentum in our product development and deliver a high-quality product experience.”
Later in the presentation, the company’s senior vice president of product strategy, Nick Sampson, showcased a number of concept drawings aimed at future products. In the art below, the company showcases a high-end vehicle that looks like it could give the second-generation Tesla Roadster a run for its money:
Faraday Future SVP of Product Strategy, Nick Sampson, discussing the company's next cars.
The company launched its Zero 1 concept car at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show to great fanfare, but since then it’s struggled to get its project off the ground. The FF 91, intended to be the company’s first production vehicle, boasts an impressive array of specs, with an electric range of 378 miles and acceleration time of zero to 60 in 2.39 seconds. The project appeared in jeopardy, though, after the company was forced to shut down construction of the $1 billion Nevada factory expected to make the cars in July 2017.
There are signs Faraday Future could turn things around, though. At the Tuesday meeting, Electrek reports that Yueting claimed the company had raised over $1 billion in funding. The FF 91 is also set for an end of year release date, with a Hanford, Washington manufacturing facility set to come online before the end of the first quarter.
”Our Hanford factory project is developing according to our planned schedule, and we appreciate the support give to us by the City of Hanford,” said Dag Reckhorn, SVP of Global Manufacturing. “We are well into the process of design and permitting and have begun planning our recruitment cadence. As of February 1st, the property has been completely vacated, so we will move forward on construction and equipment by the end of the quarter. We remain on an aggressive, yet workable timeline of year-end delivery for FF 91.”
It all sounds promising, but whether Faraday Future can get the car into manufacturing is another question.
