By Charles Borsos
For BU News Service
LAS VEGAS — Despite some financial concerns and a slight hiccup during a demo of their self parking features, the unveiling of Faraday Future’s first production model at CES was followed by strong demand for reservations for purchase, said the company’s director of experiential marketing.
Jason Wallace said on Thursday that over 60,000 individuals had placed reservations for the FF 91 and an unspecified number paid in full since Faraday Future first revealed the car on Tuesday. While Wallace said he couldn’t say exactly how much the car cost would be in total, he did said the FF 91 would be priced in a “similar zone to a premium sedan, priced north of 100 grand.”
Wallace also said the company had taken several orders for a limited edition of the FF 91 at an even higher and more exclusive price point. Called the “Alliance Edition,” Faraday Future plans on selling just 300 globally. However, the details of this edition and its price are still under wraps until later this year.
When asked when Faraday Future’s cars could be seen on the road, Wallace said, “We are going to begin production in 2018.” But in terms of timeline, the much touted driverless features of the car may be less rigidly rolled out. One of the big elements of the FF 91’s driverless technology is the ability for the car to park itself, but Wallace said that current legislation would only allow owners to use this feature on private property. He said he couldn’t give a timetable of when those features would be allowed to be used.
Wallace described the FF 91 as “the most connected car in history.” During the unveiling, Faraday Future said its car would be the fastest production vehicle to travel from 0—60 mph. But apart from setting records, only time will tell if the FF 91 will be a commercial success.
