What a year 2016 has been for Faraday Future. The Chinese-funded, U.S.-based automaker literally put itself on the map with the wild, seemingly far-fetched FFZERO1 supercar concept that was revealed ahead of the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show this past January. It also recently topped 1000 employees (including luring some from Tesla, as well as executives from other automakers), has become involved in Formula E racing, and has a $1 billion American factory in the works.
Amid that push, the company has dropped a few hints about a family-size all-electric crossover that?s expected to compete directly with the Tesla Model X and arrive as early as the end of 2018. The company teased in April that it has been running engineering test mules in harsh environments since mid-2015. Now, what appears to be a prototype has been spotted, albeit heavily camouflaged, in the Mojave Desert.
Closely resembling the vehicle teased in a company video earlier this year, the more mainstream Faraday Future model looks a bit to our eyes like a snub-nosed Toyota Venza, although much could change once front and rear detailing is revealed. It?s worth noting how much the front pillar has been nudged forward?less so because it’s an homage to cab-forward design than to take advantage of the small amount of packaging space needed up front when you don’t need to account for an internal-combustion engine.
We know very little about this production-bound crossover/fastback, but it?s expected...