Faraday Future’s FF91 back in spotlight at electronics show

Struggling Faraday Future displayed a prototype of its flagship FF91 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, and media reports said that mass production is expected to start as early as the end of this year.

Faraday Future invited reporters and guests to take a test drive on Monday, and staff from Faraday Future said the interior of the vehicle will be revealed in the first half of this year. The connected vehicle system will be launched by the third quarter, and mass production is scheduled by the end of this year, eastday.com reported on Thursday.

The biggest challenge, that of capital, is being resolved, and 75 percent of the suppliers have resumed working with the company, the news report said, adding that pricing will not target the standards of Tesla.

Faraday Future unveiled the electric luxury car at the 2017 CES, but the road has been bumpy in the past year. The main financial backer Jia Yueting is grappling with heavy debt.

“Jia Yueting is likely to work on debt repayment and producing the FF91 simultaneously,” Li Chong, associate director of Ernst & Young Transaction Advisory Services, told the Global Times on Thursday.

“Jia needs to repay some debts in time and to regain the trust from investors and the reputation from the public. However, he might not get all debts settled before the launch of FF91. He also needs to develop the overseas market for connected vehicles,” Li said.

Potential international buyers of the FF91 are not extremely price-sensitive. Safety should be the top priority. “Personally, I look forward to mass production of the FF91,” Li said.