Photo: Faraday Future
As promised, Faraday Future, the California-based startup with Chinese financial backing, revealed the first product it hopes to bring to market during a rather big event at CES earlier this week.
The car - a luxury electric crossover thingy called FF 91 - has mostly drawn positive reviews, but most of them were just based on its looks and the promised technology. Some doubts were cast over the latter considering one of the attempts to have the car park itself on the stage failed, yet those things can be considered normal on a prototype.
The exterior design may not be everyone's cup of tea, which is probably something that can be said about any other car out there. Faraday Future went all futuristic about the FF 91, and yet it looks plenty more down to Earth than most of the concepts we've seen lately, signaling it may be a prototype, but it's very close to the production model.
However, the two things that FF insisted the most were the EV's phenomenal performance figures and its innovative technology features. Andrew J. Hawkins of The Verge had the chance to experience the FF 91 first hand, and he came out impressed.
"Sitting in the passenger seat of Faraday Future’s mythical FF91," Andrey begins his report, "I found myself clinging to the red strap that doubled as the door handle to keep from flying out the window." Faraday Future organized a quick drag race inside the long tent that served as its ceremony hall (one of the many advantages of battery-powered cars), which is probably what Andrew experienced.
"I couldn’t help but let out an involuntary squeal as my brain tried and failed to process the speed. Holy shit, was that fast," he concludes his ideas on the FF 91. At this point, it would be useful to know whether he had similar experiences in a Tesla that he could use as a reference, but either way, a six-second 0-60 mph acceleration can't leave that kind of impression on anybody.
Unfortunately, all we can take out of his encounter with the FF 91 is that it's fast, it has a red strap on the door and windows you can fly out of. Not exactly the kind of information you can build a review on.
The discussion he had afterward with an unnamed former executive of the company was a little more revealing. “[There will be some head scratching] primarily around the sheer size of the vehicle, all of the screens and the wine cellar. And if price gets mentioned, the public will freak,” he said.
The price of the vehicle is also our biggest concern. Some voices put the F 91 somewhere between $100,000 and $120,000, but we find it hard to believe Faraday Future will manage to keep it under $150,000. However, we don't see why the public should freak out about that. A Range Rover diesel can reach the same level without much effort and it's slower, nowhere near as technologically advanced, and... it's a diesel.
Faraday Future claims to have received 64,124 reservations during the first 36 hourse since the unveiling. That means a lot of potential money for the company provided it is actually successful in building the FF 91. Of course, the fact the price is a closely guarded secret can mean two things: Faraday has found a magical way of producing EVs for scrap and it will be extremely low, or the FF 91 will be a very prohibitive vehicle for the one percent to enjoy. You decide which sounds more reasonable.
The exterior design may not be everyone's cup of tea, which is probably something that can be said about any other car out there. Faraday Future went all futuristic about the FF 91, and yet it looks plenty more down to Earth than most of the concepts we've seen lately, signaling it may be a prototype, but it's very close to the production model.
However, the two things that FF insisted the most were the EV's phenomenal performance figures and its innovative technology features. Andrew J. Hawkins of The Verge had the chance to experience the FF 91 first hand, and he came out impressed.
"Sitting in the passenger seat of Faraday Future’s mythical FF91," Andrey begins his report, "I found myself clinging to the red strap that doubled as the door handle to keep from flying out the window." Faraday Future organized a quick drag race inside the long tent that served as its ceremony hall (one of the many advantages of battery-powered cars), which is probably what Andrew experienced.
"I couldn’t help but let out an involuntary squeal as my brain tried and failed to process the speed. Holy shit, was that fast," he concludes his ideas on the FF 91. At this point, it would be useful to know whether he had similar experiences in a Tesla that he could use as a reference, but either way, a six-second 0-60 mph acceleration can't leave that kind of impression on anybody.
Unfortunately, all we can take out of his encounter with the FF 91 is that it's fast, it has a red strap on the door and windows you can fly out of. Not exactly the kind of information you can build a review on.
The discussion he had afterward with an unnamed former executive of the company was a little more revealing. “[There will be some head scratching] primarily around the sheer size of the vehicle, all of the screens and the wine cellar. And if price gets mentioned, the public will freak,” he said.
The price of the vehicle is also our biggest concern. Some voices put the F 91 somewhere between $100,000 and $120,000, but we find it hard to believe Faraday Future will manage to keep it under $150,000. However, we don't see why the public should freak out about that. A Range Rover diesel can reach the same level without much effort and it's slower, nowhere near as technologically advanced, and... it's a diesel.
Faraday Future claims to have received 64,124 reservations during the first 36 hourse since the unveiling. That means a lot of potential money for the company provided it is actually successful in building the FF 91. Of course, the fact the price is a closely guarded secret can mean two things: Faraday has found a magical way of producing EVs for scrap and it will be extremely low, or the FF 91 will be a very prohibitive vehicle for the one percent to enjoy. You decide which sounds more reasonable.
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