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Faraday Future on Wednesday announced the start of production of its FF91 electric SUV, though the company hasn’t actually shown any completed customer vehicles yet.
Photographs from the production commencement ceremony at Faraday’s Hanford, California, plant show only the body shell. The company said it will hold a “launch event” for the FF91, which it plans to sell in the US and China, on April 26.
The FF91 was first shown in concept form back in 2017, and shortly after Faraday announced plans for a new factory in North Las Vegas, Nevada. Production then shifted to a California facility, a repurposed Pirelli tire factory, and Faraday revealed its first production FF91 body in 2018, with “production-intended” vehicles after that. However, persistent financial problems hampered progress. Faraday said last year that more funds were needed to manufacture the FF91.
Faraday Future FF91
Faraday stuck with similar specs throughout this plan. The company says the launch version of the FF91 Futurist will have 1,050 hp and a 0-60 mph acceleration time of 2.27 seconds, along with an EPA-rated range of 381 miles. The company confirmed the EPA range last year, with a 142-kwh battery pack.
At the FF91’s 2017 launch, Faraday discussed a nearly $300,000 price tag that, despite the company’s high-tech aesthetic, targets neither Tesla nor Lucid but Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, and the Maybach, which will debut first. EV at the 2023 Shanghai auto show later in April. The Rolls-Royce Specter EV is coming later this year. While the FF91 and the upcoming Maybach are SUVs, the Specter is a more traditional coupe.
Faraday said last year that a second planned model, the FF 81, was slated for high-volume production in South Korea at GM’s former facility in 2024. That high-volume intention likely means a lower price point as well.
Faraday Future FF91 prototype
The additional models are part of the second phase of the expansion which the company says will also involve “smart device sales”, with the aim of “creating a mobility ecosystem with rapid increases in environmental revenue”, according to the release. This sounds similar to the efforts of Le Eco stalwart Faraday Jia Yueting, who attempted to create a hardware and software ecosystem around his own electric car and phone but failed. With Jia, nicknamed YT within the company, still influencing Faraday’s decision-making, though no longer as CEO, the idea appears to be making a comeback.
In its third phase of expansion, the company says its goal is to “sustain rapid growth in smart device sales while achieving explosive growth in green revenue, which includes internet applications, software and sharing.” It’s an ambitious plan for a company that hasn’t yet managed to deliver a customer’s car.
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