Faraday Future, a new electric car company with billions in undisclosed funding, has been making waves in the past 12 months. The company has recruited a lot of talent, like top executives from Apple, Google and even its direct competitor Tesla Motors. It’s all sitting on a big pile of cash and plans to open a $1bn. factory soon in Nevada. But all this hype and absolutely nothing to show apart from a fantasy muscle car has made a lot of people weary, including yours truly.
It seems, however, that FF is actually farther ahead than critics thought. A Twitter user spotted one of the company’s SUV prototypes on the streets of L.A., and though the vehicle was camouflaged, its defining features are too similar to the silhouette sneak peak Faraday showcased at CES 2016, Las Vegas, a couple of months back.
Judging from the single picture, it seems FF’s intention is to compete directly with Tesla Motors’ Model X — a large and lengthy crossover. But right now, that’s only speculation based on appearance given that we have absolutely no specs at hand.
One thing we know for sure, however, is that this crossover and any other vehicle FF eventually releases will feature the company’s signature Variable Platform Architecture chassis. We’ve seen it presented at CES when FF showcased a monster concept car called the FFZERO1. What’s interesting about the architecture is that it enables a modular and flexible platform. Basically, a customer can order his own custom car based on specs like battery capacity, four wheel drive, etc.
Previously, Faraday Future received permission from the California DMV to test driverless cars on the state’s roads. Will this secret crossover also drive itself or at least partially? It’s very likely at this point.
The hype is still here to stay, though. Faraday Future has a lot of things to do and show before it can prove itself.