Faraday Has a Future? Troubled Start-Up Reveals “Affordable” EV, Sets Production Date

Faraday Future is the automotive equivalent of a death-defying cat. It apparently has at least one life left, announcing plans for yet another new project set to go on sale next year. This time it says it’s rolling out an all-electric “affordable mass market MPV.” And it has a talking grille. More on that from Headlight.News.

Faraday Future? It’s still in business? That’s the response I got from a number of my colleagues in the automotive media when I mentioned receiving an invitation to a debut the long-troubled automaker was holding in suburban Los Angeles this week.

For those not familiar with the all-electric brand, it was founded back in 2014, backed by Jia Yueting, a man at the time widely referred to as the Chinese Steve Jobs. But things didn’t go as planned and the company has since struggled to come up with funding, finish developing a vehicle and actually get it into production.

Forget the original, high-tech FF91 sports car, Faraday now plans to produce an “affordable mass market MPV.” And, yes, it really will have a talking grille if you want the option using AI to communicate with drivers and passengers.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Faraday Future

Named for the early electric pioneer Michael Faraday, the start-up was widely expected to compete with the then-new Tesla with a super high-tech battery-powered sports car rolling out of a $1 billion plant near Las Vegas. That project went bust when Jia’s Chinese business empire collapsed and the company scrapped plans for the FF99 sports car and other projects – while also abandoning the Nevada plant site.

It eventually acquired a plant in California but has repeatedly changed plans while struggling to come up with alternative funding. It now claims to have enough cash in hand – as well as an entirely new product to build at that factory.

It’s being called FX Super One. And rather than being based on an all-new design, Faraday is borrowing a design developed by Great Wall, one of the fast-growing Chinese domestic EV manufacturers.

What’s an FX Super One

During an event at its Los Angeles headquarters Thursday, Faraday rolled out a prototype of the FX Super One and it is being described, without irony, as both “an affordable mass market MPV” as well as a super luxury multi-purpose vehicle. Think limo-style van. In China, that could be possible because they’re bringing in vehicles at astoundingly low cost, even well-equipped ones. Whether Faraday can do the same assembling the FX in the U.S. remains to be seen, however, as it’s not ready to talk price.

The company says it will be sold in a number of different configurations, including six- and seven-seaters, though the one that stood out is the four-seat GOAT Edition, (yes, as in “greatest of all time), which appears to be aimed at celebrities and influencers who want cavernous interior space and loads of technology. Think alternatives like the new Cadillac Escalade IQ and upcoming Mercedes-Benz Vision V van. At 212.8 inches in length, and with a 128.9-inch wheelbase, its dimensions are closely in line with those of the electric Caddy flagship.

And yes, Faraday is ready to deliver with, among other things, its AI-powered F.A.C.E.

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A F.A.C.E. to love

That’s short for “Front AI Communications Ecosystem” and its grille features a large screen powered by the proprietary EAI Embodied Intelligence AI Agent

6×4 Architecture. It can interact directly with passengers and drivers both inside and outside the vehicle, much like today’s virtual assistants, but not only by voice but also by providing visual cues.

The potential seems to be endless, allowing a driver to display messages or images on the grille. It could be the ultimate way to communicate one’s road rage.

Whether customers will appreciate Faraday’s quirky display remains to be seen. The company will offer a more conventional grille as an option.

Powertrain

Faraday was short on details during this week’s debut. No hard data on the drivetrain, for one thing, though the company indicated it will start out with an all-electric package featuring twin motors and all-wheel-drive.

That will be followed up, at some point, by an “AI Hybrid Extended Range” variant. That appears likely to adopt the increasingly promised E-REV formula.

Unlike today’s common plug-in hybrids, which  a gas engine and electric motors – both able to send torque directly to the wheels – range-extenders use internal combustion engines solely as generators. They help keep the batteries charged up. The wheels, in turn, are driven solely by the vehicle’s electric motors.

Production plans

After scrambling for cash, Faraday finally locked down $120 million in funding, as well as an old factory in Hanford, California it has been struggling to convert into an assembly plant. The company insists it’s now ready to go. It also has a production facility in place in the United Arab Emirates.

The goal, it announced, is to get a production version of the FX Super One into production and ready to deliver by sometime in 2026. The company has yet to fully outline its sales and marketing plans though appears likely to try the direct route, at least initially, in a limited number of markets in the U.S. and abroad.

While pricing has yet to be announced, Faraday announced it is starting to take refundable advance reservations of $100.

Meanwhile, the company continues to lay out ambitious plans and claims it has continued working up several other products, including the FX 4 billed as a direct competitor to the Tesla Model Y.

Of course, this all depends upon whether you believe Faraday actually can make it into production. The start-up has burned through a lot of lives, and money, over the past decade and produced only a handful of vehicles so far. One might guess this will be the cat’s last life if it can’t truly deliver this time.