Faraday Future, the secretive electric vehicle startup, unveiled its first production car, the FF 91, at an event ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2017 in Las Vegas.
At the event, Faraday previewed some of the autonomous features that would be available in the FF 91, alongside some performance stats. But the stage demo of the autonomous technology failed to perform as hoped and the rollout moved on without it.
See also: Faraday Future to test autonomous cars in Michigan
The car’s performance was pitted against Tesla’s Model S, including the electric range (378 to 315 miles EPA adjusted) and 0-60 mph (2.6 seconds to 2.59 seconds). Faraday raced the FF 91, Model S, X, a Ferrari and Bentley at the event.
A video of the FF 91 autonomously parking was shown at the event, but when it tried to demo the car driving back to the stage, it failed. Not great for Faraday, which has already received criticism from pundits that think the company is being too secretive.
Faraday said the FF 91 will have 30 sensors inside, including cameras, radar, and Lidar, which will power the autonomous system. Owners will be able to summon it via a smartphone application, and it will have facial recognition for keyless entry.
The FF 91 will have 151 cubic feet of space internally and the Faraday officials at the event said it would be a major step in the evolution of the automobile.
No final price set
Faraday did not provide a final price tag for the vehicle, but customers can reserve the car with a $5,000 deposit. In March 2017, Faraday will offer an “Alliance Edition” reservation upgrade, for customers that are confident the FF 91 will make it to production. The company expects to start manufacturing the car in 2018.
The firm, dubbed a “Tesla killer” in the marketplace, has been best known lately for financing and production issues. The company says it won’t comment on its finances.
