Faraday Future makes a ‘fresh start’ with minivan prototype at CES 2025

At CES 2017, Faraday Future unveiled its futuristic luxury EV, the FF 91. Seven years later, after repeated delays, bankruptcy, lawsuits and other controversies, the company has sold “15 or 16” FF 91s. Now the company is detailing its latest strategic change with a plan to sell low-cost EVs below their recently announced low price . FX CEO Max Ma came to CES, along with two prototypes of the car, to unveil the plan, which he described as a “fresh start” for the embattled company.

As you might expect with Faraday, the exact details are a bit hazy, but it involves sourcing parts from Chinese automakers and bringing them to the US to produce “massive mass vehicles” with some of the premium touches that Faraday is known for. “We want to bring that expertise in the $300,000 car from technology, features and performance (from a perspective) to a $30,000, $40,000 car to try to upgrade the overall user experience,” Ma said during briefing with Engadget. The first FX vehicle, the flagship of the brand’s lineup, will be a minivan or, as Ma called it, an “AI MPV.”

Faraday showed off two minivan prototypes to demonstrate the concept. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, but the vehicle pictured at the top of this post is what I saw.

One aimed to showcase the premium cabin experience that Faraday envisions for the budget car. There were two rows of white leather captain’s seats. The second-row seats have reclining footrests, heated seats and built-in massagers. There was also a small fridge under the center console to keep drinks cold. The vehicle was missing its door handles and several other parts. “Obviously we’ll have door handles,” a Faraday representative assured us.

The second minivan was even less complete. The entire interior, including the dash and instrument panel, was covered in black cloth, held together with clips. But a Faraday representative took me and other reporters on a ride with him, driving little slow circles around a Las Vegas parking lot. Faraday later offered to let me take the minivan for a spin, and I—apparently the “first lady” piloting the vehicle—also drove it in slow circles around the parking lot. I’m not sure what I was supposed to get out of it, but it felt like I was driving a minivan.

Faraday says it will begin production of the as-yet-unnamed vehicle later this year, with the first car rolling off the production line by the end of 2025, according to a schedule shared by Ma. That’s a tall promise given the company’s past history of mismanagement and delays. Faraday Future CEO Matthias Eide also admitted that the company has not yet finalized its partnerships with the companies that will supply its parts. He also did not mention how the tariffs might affect those plans.

Ma said he understood the skepticism. “Basically, it’s kind of a fresh start. We really want to demonstrate that through our dedication to hard work we can achieve what we promised.”