Faraday Future Teases Electric SUV
CARS.COM — A new video teaser for the coming electric vehicle from Faraday Future, the Chinese-backed EV startup, shows a camouflaged Faraday electric vehicle prototype drag racing a Ferrari 488 sports car, a Bentley Bentayga SUV and a Tesla Model X SUV. The teaser comes ahead of its unveiling of its unnamed EV in January 3 at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which also happens to be where Faraday hopes to complete a factory to build vehicles.
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While under wraps in the video, the shape of the vehicle appears to be an SUV in the mold of the Model X. And given the choice of aspirational rivals, it also appears that the Faraday will be a high-end luxury vehicle, maybe aiming higher than the Model X if the choice of the decadent Bentayga ($231,825 to start, including a $2,725 destination charge) to race is any hint.
The latest Faraday video doesn’t show the finish of the drag race (teasing only “stay connected” for results), though it’s safe to assume that its EV at least beat the gasoline vehicles. The instant full torque of an electric motor is suited ideally to drag racing and YouTube is full of videos of Teslas shutting down gasoline wannabes.
California-based Faraday has financial backing from Chinese billionaire Jia Yueting, who amassed his fortune with a video streaming company (a so-called Chinese Netflix) and whose LeEco company also is venturing into electric cars; it has shown a Tesla Model S-like concept car in China. Faraday says it is developing a modular EV structure that could underpin multiple vehicles.
At the 2016 CES, many had expected Faraday to show a version of its car, but instead it unveiled an exotic car concept, the FFZero1.
Like Tesla, the company is named for an electrical pioneer, British scientist Michael Faraday, who is credited with discoveries in electromagnetic induction, a basic principle in electric motors, in the early 19th century.
