It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Faraday Future.
In fact, the Chinese-backed electric car startup hasn’t announced any news since the reveal of its first car, the FF 91, during January’s 2017 Consumer Electronics Show.
The absence of news coupled with delays in construction of its plant as well as talk of a cash crunch at its Chinese backer, LeEco, has led to concerns that Faraday Future might be in trouble.
To show us that it’s not quite dead, Faraday Future has released a video showing its FF 91 on the move. The video shows us what the car will look like once in customer hands, though there’s still plenty of uncertainty regarding whether that will actually happen.
Faraday Future FF 91
Citing a source familiar with Faraday Future’s plans, Reuters in February reported that the company has scaled back plans for its factory and lineup. Under the original plan, Faraday Future was to build a factory in Nevada spanning 3.0 million square feet for a lineup of seven cars.
Under the alleged new plan, Faraday Future’s factory will have just 650,000 square feet of floor space and be responsible for two cars. One of the cars is to be the FF 91 while the other is to be a slightly smaller model called the FF 81. The latter is thought to be a SUV targeting the Tesla Model X.
The factory was originally meant to be ready in time for the start of construction of the FF 91 in 2018.
Citing a separate source, Reuters also reported in February that Faraday Future might end up using a plant in China’s Zhejiang province. The Chinese plant, whose construction is being subsidized by the local government, is expected to be operational in 2019. It was originally intended for another car brand from LeEco aimed at the Chinese market.
