It’s been a long road for the Faraday Future FF 91, but it’s still going.
In fact, the Hanford, California plant where full production may ramp up this fall just unveiled the first pre-production car — or “production-intent” example, as Faraday Future calls it.
This electric crossover first appeared all the way back in 2017, with an original goal to kick off production a year later. The fledgling manufacturer has been mired in delays since then. However, against the odds, it is still going, with the aim to actually reach customers with production-spec cars in the third quarter of 2022. “This iteration is the closest to the FF 91 production model we’ve seen to date,” said vice president of manufacturing Matt Tall in a statement. “The FF 91 is expected to be the first ultra-luxury EV to reach the market, with a unique driver and passenger experience.”
Take that for what you will — We do have the Audi e-tron, BMW iX, Mercedes-Benz EQS, Lucid Air and Tesla Model X, among others to choose from — but FF is taking a different approach to both design and how it implements its onboard tech. The car will get up to 11 different displays throughout its cabin, including controls on the doors, several infotainment screen and a digital instrument cluster (naturally). The company doesn’t divulge any additional technical information on the FF 91, other than to say this car features “production-specification components”.
This car promises neck-snapping performance, as well as luxury
That means we should, provided all the technical information from FF’s earlier statements are true, see a high-performance EV capable of truly raising the bar against the competition. To that end, the Faraday Future FF 91 rides on the company’s Variable Platform Architecture, which is a key element to its long-term plans to launch at least two more models: the FF 81 and the FF 71. In this application, we’re getting a 130 kWh battery pack, capable of moving you approximately 370 miles on a charge. The triple-motor all-wheel drive setup brings torque vectoring capability to the mix, as well as Plaid-like performance figures.
The FF 91’s combined output is 1,050 horsepower, while the company says its first crossover can accelerate from 0-60 in 2.39 seconds. Why, that’s so specific, you’d almost think they were targeting a particular, nearly-as-quick electric crossover. Again, the manufacturer has touted these numbers for the the past five years, so we’ll have to wait for some real-world evaluations for more concrete information.
How much will it cost?
The good news with this latest milestone — one of seven the company set toward kicking off serial production — is that the pre-production car doesn’t look much different than near-past iterations. The bad (or at least disappointing to some) news? The Faraday Future FF 91 will not come cheap.
While the company hasn’t put out set-in-stone pricing just yet, word has it the car will run anywhere between $120,000 for the base model and $180,000 or so for the limited-run “Futurist Alliance” edition. Right now, Faraday Future is taking reservations for the mid-range “Futurist Edition”, while the base model may open up in the coming months.
