Electric-car startup Faraday Future has the ambitious goal of starting production of its first electric car within two years.
So far, though, the company has divulged virtually nothing about the car it intends to launch.
But this image of a camouflaged test vehicle maneuvering around a Los Angeles-area parking lot might offer a clue.
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The photo was posted Monday by Twitter user Everette Taylor, and Autoblog subsequently marked the mysterious vehicle as the Faraday Future electric car, citing the report of an unnamed source.
The tall body and rear hatch hint at a crossover, although the vehicle has a fairly low, sleek roofline.
Underneath the body is likely a version of the Variable Platform Architecture chassis that supported the FFZero1 concept Faraday Future unveiled at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) back in January.
wireframe of possible Faraday Future production vehicle, from company promotional video at CES 2016Faraday Future Variable Platform ArchitectureFaraday Future Variable Platform Architecture
The FFZero1 was a fantasy electric supercar concept built solely to demonstrate the flexibility of this modular platform, which will presumably underpin most if not all of Faraday’s eventual production models.
At the January event during CES, a ghosted image of what appeared to be a low, sleek sport-utility vehicle appeared briefly on a background display screen (see photo above).
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Faraday broke ground on a factory in North Las Vegas, Nevada, on which it has said it will spend $1 billion to start production of its unspecified first vehicle.
However, Nevada state treasurer Dan Schwartz has expressed concern over Faraday’s ability to meet its financial commitments.
At the groundbreaking for Faraday Future’s production facility in North Las Vegas (April 13, 2016)
Nevada has promised to contribute to the project, but Schwartz said last month that he wanted more transparency regarding Faraday’s funding.
That funding comes largely from Chinese billionaire Jia Yueting’s holdings in LeEco, the massive tech company he founded.
Separately, LeEco is reportedly investigating manufacturing its own electric cars in China.
The company has also investigated a second factory site in Vallejo, California, north of San Francisco.
It also applied earlier this year for special license plates to be affixed to autonomous test vehicles to be deployed on public roads in Michigan.
Faraday Future FFZERO1 concept
Various reports and statements by the company have hinted at eventual self-driving cars from Faraday.
For now, though, the photo of a camouflaged crossover-like vehicle—and the single January glimpse of a rendering—is all we have to go on to figure out Faraday’s first production model.
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