LeEco's million-dollar luxury car parked automatically but didn't move at press conference

No different from the earlier news, Faraday Future (FF) released its mass-produced car as scheduled. In fact, FF has been highly exposed recently and has been troubled by some negative news before. The mass-produced model released during CES is considered to be their best opportunity to "fight back doubts with action." Will this be a turning point for FF to reverse the recent negative news?

Let the data speak

On the morning of January 4th, Beijing time, FF released its first mass-produced model FF91. Like the FF brand, this pure electric SUV has also received a lot of attention and is also very different. In the words of Nick Sampson, senior vice president of FF R&D and Engineering, it is "disruptive." In fact, looking back at the entire press conference, FF tried to speak with data, especially the power data of FF91.

First of all, this is indeed a top-notch car, and it is a pure electric car, with a peak power of 783kW, 1050 horsepower, a peak torque of over 1800 N·m, and an acceleration of 0-60 mph in just 2.39 seconds.

Body size: 5250, 2283, 1598mm, wheelbase reaches 3200mm. A series of exterior designs show the exquisiteness of aerodynamics, and the final drag coefficient reaches 0.25.

Among them, the "UFO line" in the middle of the car body will become FF's family design element, and the original matrix LED headlights and interactive array light display system that run across the front and rear of the car can interact intelligently with the external environment, redefining the vehicle's external lighting system. It is worth mentioning that FF91 has developed the industry's fastest charging capability, with a fast charging speed of 200kW/h. The total capacity of the battery pack exceeds 130kW·h, and the driving range on a single charge exceeds 700 kilometers. According to official data, this is the world's largest single cell energy + highest battery pack cell density to date.

In addition, this car is also equipped with a series of high-tech configurations: equipped with an interactive array light display system, which can establish a deep connection between the user and the vehicle and convey information to the user in the most intuitive way, such as welcome status display, charging status display, automatic driving status prompt, facial recognition when entering the door, inductive touch screen, etc.

From the platform perspective, FF91's VPA (variable electric drive chassis architecture) platform is a universal power assembly platform, based on which different power and battery packs can be matched.

Refundable deposit of $5,000

FF91 is now available for pre-order on the official website, with a refundable deposit of US$5,000. The vehicle is expected to be delivered around 2018.

The price of any vehicle was not disclosed at this press conference, but according to previous reports, the price of this car may reach 150,000 to 200,000 US dollars, surpassing Tesla in all aspects.

There is no doubt that this press conference was so beautiful that some issues such as the resignation of senior executives, capital chain problems, and supplier problems were forgotten. Jia Yueting, founder and CEO of LeEco, also said at the press conference: "As long as you buy a FF91, you can get rid of the other cars in the garage."

The question is, when will this car be available to everyone? Will the model change by then? Can it be delivered smoothly in 2018? Everything is still a big question. In particular, there was an embarrassing scene at the press conference: Jia Yueting drove the car to the stage, got out of the door, turned around and pressed the "auto parking" button near the B-pillar of the car, and then... nothing happened! FF91 just parked there quietly, as if the world had nothing to do with it.

The host at the scene then said: "FF91 may be too shy", and then everyone laughed, including Jia Yueting.

Jia Yueting then began his impassioned speech, and I confirmed that what I heard was this: "It is difficult to achieve greatness in a smooth career. I am willing to devote my entire life to my dream, even life itself."

Then FF91 came on stage again and demonstrated the automatic parking function again. At this time, our witty host came on stage again and said: "Maybe the spotlights on the scene are too strong. Let's turn off the lights and try again." At this time, another staff member went up and came down after a while and clicked the automatic parking function again. The car drove forward a few meters and stopped. The parking was completed...

The most intuitive feeling given by this embarrassing episode is that this car is not yet ready for mass production. At least the automatic parking function and the various software and hardware involved still need to be debugged and verified.

But no matter what, the author believes that the launch of FF's mass-produced car has great positive significance for the brand. The famous host Liu Jianhong also said when hosting the press conference in the Beijing studio that the launch of FF91 has at least weakened some people's understanding of LeTV and FF's PPT-based car manufacturing.

In addition, how much will the price of this car be? Whether anyone is willing to spend 1 million or even 1.5 million to buy it, I think it will take a long time to make a final conclusion. As for whether FF91 can save FF, it still needs time to test.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.