Faraday Future unveils its electric vehicle to kick off CES in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – Electric-vehicle start-up Faraday Future unveiled a prototype of its vehicle at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday. The China-backed company is striving to win credibility in the crowded sector and weather its funding challenges.

The FF 91, described by its designer Richard Kim as “weird-pretty,” is a luxury electric SUV that Faraday executives say will be the most technologically advanced on the market when it goes into production in early 2018. Advance reservations for the car are being taken for $5,000. Insiders say it will retail for about $180,000.

“You’re about to witness day one of a new era of mobility,” Faraday senior vice president of engineering and research and development Nick Sampson said. “We’re going to show the first of a new species.”

But cash shortages and a recent spate of executive departures have raised questions about the company’s prospects.

Faraday is funded and controlled by Chinese billionaire Jia Yueting, the chief executive officer of China’s Leshi Holdings Co. Ltd., also known as LeEco, which is showing its own prototype electric car, the LeSee Pro, at CES. He is also an investor in California-based Lucid Motors, a competing electric-vehicle start-up attending CES this year.

Faraday debuted at CES last year with a concept car not intended to be produced, raising eyebrows over the company’s legitimacy and Jia’s overall strategy. A cash crunch at LeEco and Faraday’s missed payments to a contractor JOURNALISTS GATHER around a Faraday Future FF 91 electric car during an unveiling event at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday. Advance reservations for the car are being taken for $5,000. Insiders say it will retail for about $180,000. working on its $1 billion Nevada factory have spurred more questions in recent months over Faraday’s financial situation.

In late December, LeEco said it was in talks to secure 10 billion yuan ($1.4b.) from an unidentified strategic investor.

Faraday executives would not comment on the company’s financials.

“We’re hoping to... convince people that we’re real, we are doing a real product, it’s not just a ‘vaporware’ Batmobile to create attention. But we now have a serious product,” Sampson told reporters during a tour of Faraday’s headquarters in Gardena, California, in December.

Executives say the car’s modular architecture and flexible battery layout will allow for a faster rollout of future models. The car will have a range of about 608 kilometers per charge. Its electric motors will generate a combined 1,050 horsepower.

The FF 91, a long, low, futuristic SUV with a roomy interior has no handles, as doors will open as a driver approaches. Holograms will be projected on the windshield to alert drivers of needed information.

The car will come equipped with a package of sensors, including cameras, radar and lidar, to enable self-driving capability at a future date.

Near the end of the launch, Jia – wearing a black LeEco hoodie – drove the car onstage. He got out of the car and was asked to push a button to make it drive itself to center stage. The car did not move at first.

It made it on the second try.