Faraday Future has finally lifted the covers from its first production electric vehicle, named the FF91. And it looks a little like a Renault Espace with a hint of Citroen C3 has eaten a bulldog before landing a leading role a Tom Cruise sci-fi flick. Interesting.

Following close on the heels of rival EV startup NextEV, which revealed its first EV offering (the NIO EP9 hypercar) in London in November 2016, the FF91 was presented to the world for the first time last night at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Both companies are familiar from the Formula E paddock, with NextEV running a works operation and Faraday Future acting currently as the headline sponsor for Jay Penske’s Dragon Racing with designs on something more akin to a factory outfit in the future.

(Don’t forget Lucid, yet another EV startup, unveiled a new car recently too. Battery tech from the company will find its way via McLaren into the season five Formula E cars.)

First, of course, Faraday Future needs a factory, and the company has been beset recently with all manner of rumours claiming impending doom for the Chinese-backed US company. A number of top executives have departed; the most recent to leave is Marco Mattiacci, former team principal of Ferrari’s Formula 1 team, who had been present at both London and Hong Kong Formula E races to see how the Dragon Racing team fared after announcing the partnership at the London 2016 weekend.

Still, here is the company’s offering. Unlike the EP9, which is unashamedly geared towards the sort of low-volume, high-price performance vehicle in the manner and shape of McLaren and Ferrari, Faraday Future has opted to produce a crossover SUV for its production debut. Perhaps the company is relying on its Formula E antics to bring the sex appeal (and with Loic Duval on the payroll, that’s an easy box to tick).

That’s not to say the FF91 is any kind of slouch, however, nor that it will be cheap. We’re yet to receive a detailed look at the powertrain but the company quotes peak power at 783kW (around 1,050bhp), enough to to cover the 0-60mph dash in 2.39 seconds. The car also has an estimated range of 378 miles, and claims to have the fastest charging speed available in the EV market. Poor Tesla. Everyone has clearly taken aim at the EV pioneer’s Model S saloon and Model X SUV. Without the details of the powertrain, we don’t know how much tech will be shared between the FF91 and the company’s Formula E programme, of course.

The FF91 is packaged more as a gizmo with wheels rather than something to enjoy driving, however. On-board tech includes a facial recognition feature; the idea is that the car recognises when its owner is approaching and automatically unlocks itself. The facial recognition software is also designed to sense the mood that the owner is in and duly adjust interior music, lighting, scent and massage settings (we’re presuming this refers to the fancy seats, not some stowaway Swede in the boot) to suit.

Elsewhere, the rear view mirror has been replaced with a digital screen served by feed from a suite of cameras. Following the trend towards driverless vehicles, the car comes ready to park itself when asked to, and can even be summoned by use of an app. A pop-up LIDAR sensor will help the car find its way around safely (when it becomes legal for cars to do so on their own).

Production of the FF91 is set to get underway in 2018. A final price for the car has not been revealed.

Luke Smith