Beyond having four wheels, Faraday Future's first vehicle may have very little in common with the average automobile on the streets today. At least that's what the California-based tech startup is promising as it drums up interest for an electric car it intends to launch in 2017. It is designing that car behind a vision of "clean, connected, smart mobility for all."
Faraday Future wants the world to call it "FF", but that's just way too close to Ferrari's shooting-brake, so we'll keep referring to it as Faraday Future or Faraday. The company teased its first car this month and is making bold proclamations of an auto industry shakeup comparable in scale to the introduction of the internet. "The greatest leaps in evolution require revolution," its website reads. We'll reserve our excitement for the day when Faraday offers up actual details about what type of car it's designing.
What we do know is that it promises to introduce an all-electric car in 2017. Beyond that, the startup is sticking to generalities like "fully connected" and "personalized in ways you've never even considered possible." Based upon those vague descriptors and the general direction the auto industry is going, we're expecting to see some serious automated technology inside and out, along with a powerful electric drive system. That's assuming we see anything at all.
It's usually easy to dismiss startups with bold proclamations of revolution, or at least put them on a permanent back burner until they've actually revealed something of substance. Faraday Future is raising eyebrows, however, thanks to the team it's developed since its founding last year. Two former Lotus employees created the vision, and Faraday claims to have pulled together a hundreds-strong team with all kinds of experience in the technology and automotive sectors. According to Motor Trend, its employees have previously worked on projects like the Tesla Model S, Chevy Volt and BMW i.
Putting the right employees together is a great start, but that in no way guarantees success. Henrik Fisker was a highly esteemed car designer with experience at Aston Martin and BMW prior to founding his ill-fated green car company. There have been plenty of other electric-car failures, and even industry darling Tesla went years without sniffing a profit. Maybe Faraday Future will lead an automotive revolution, but it's just likely to disappear without so much as carving its name into a wooden bench.
At the very least, Faraday should provide a nice rendered and/or modeled concept car. Its initial sketches promise a rather futuristic design with rounded glasshouse and large wheels. The company doesn't hint at whether it'll reveal more information before 2017, but you can sign up to its mailing list on its website.
Given the LA Auto Show's proximity and focus on green tech, it seems like a good venue for a concept car debut, perhaps this year or in 2016. Or maybe Faraday will follow Tesla in making an announcement outside of the major auto shows. Or maybe we'll never hear another peep about its groundbreaking connected, electric car ever again.
Source: Faraday Future
Source: Startup car company teases a futuristic, connected electric car
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