Faraday Future completes first pre-production FF91

Faraday Future (FF), the US-based electric vehicle start-up founded by Chinese businessman Jia Yueting, has completed the first pre-production model of its flagship FF91 electric sportscar, the company announced on Wednesday.

FF unveiled its first pre-production car during a ceremony at its factory in Hanford, California. According to a press release the company sent to the Global Times on Wednesday, an official public unveiling will be held on September 19.

FF hailed the unveiling as a milestone for the company, which expects to start mass production soon. FF also announced its intention to hire more than 1,000 new engineers for its Hanford factory, and it has established a special group to hire Tesla employees, noting that Elon Musk’s company recently fired 4,000 workers.

FF was founded by Jia in 2014, promising to build a next-generation electric car, sporting 1,050 horsepower and a driving range of more than 500 km on a single charge.

However, Jia had financial trouble as his Chinese internet company LeEco struggled with excessive debt.

Jia himself was recently added to China’s national social credit blacklist after failing to repay his domestic debt, blocking him from buying airline or high-speed rail tickets.

“Jia has charisma, but he has little experience in automaking, and he doesn’t appear to have a stable engineering team. It’s hard to see how FF will ever achieve mass production,” Feng Shiming, a car analyst with Menutor Consulting, told the Global Times on Wednesday.