Faraday Future, the company producing electric cars at a 1 million-square-foot facility in Hanford, began the first stage of launching their electric vehicle Wednesday.
The company announced they will be producing a special edition of their flagship FF91, the FF91 2.0 Futurist Alliance, on a limited run of 300 vehicles with an MSRP of $309,000. A pre-order on the car will run $5,000. The FF91 2.0 Futurist Alliance edition will feature exclusive colors, wheel designs and either a customized signature plate or signature plate from the company’s founder, Yueting Jia.
The launch also revealed some features of the vehicle, including a 27” rear display and the opportunity to control some pieces of the vehicle using an Apple Watch.
Promotional materials for the company say the FF91 launches without smart parking, smart summoning or navigation-based self-driving, but this reportedly could change with over-the-air updates.
Although the company is celebrating the launch of the FF91, cars are still not being delivered to the general public. The first phase of the launch involves the training of selected industry expert futurist product officers in the use of the FF91. The product officers will pay for the vehicle in full, according to Faraday Future.
A spokesperson for the company did not respond to a request for comment asking to explain the term “futurist product officers” and the relationship between the officers and the company.
During the second phase of deliveries, product officers will receive their vehicle for everyday use. A previous estimate from Faraday Future anticipates delivering vehicles to officers by the end of June. The company has not yet secured financing to complete the third phase, during which the general public can purchase an FF91.
The company stood by many previously known metrics for the vehicle, including a rating of 1,050 horsepower, a 0-60 time of 2.27 seconds and 381 miles of electric range. Promotion materials for the company say the FF91 is the fastest vehicle in its class, but the company also narrowly defines the segment as vehicles weighing over 6,000 pounds, costing over $300,000 and with a wheelbase of over 3,100 millimeters.
Some of the vehicles that the company compares the FF91 to in a table in its promotional materials, like the Ferrari SF90 Stradale and the Mercedes-Maybach S 680 4MATIC Sedan, do not meet all of these requirements.
The company also announced a “mobile ecosystem product” called FF aiHypercar+. It will be related to the usage of the FF91 vehicle and an annual subscription will cost $14,900, with a pre-order price of $100.
The road to production was a long one for Faraday Future, which delayed initial production of the vehicle multiple times since 2017 and then delayed their first estimate for vehicle deliveries. The company initially considered opening a plant to produce the vehicle in Las Vegas in 2017 but eventually decided to lease the former Pirelli tire plant in Hanford.
And although the company announced it had received $100 million in funding through unsecured convertible notes in May, Faraday Future remains in need of more financing to actually complete the third phase of their plan and deliver the vehicle to the general public, according to a recent quarterly report filed with the SEC.
Stock price for Faraday Future sits at $0.25 and was largely unaffected by the launch announcement.
