Does Faraday's Future hang in the balance?

The crowds were given what they wanted, with the unveiling of a car that had not been seen before - the FFZERO1 which can reach speeds of 200mph with its 4 Quad Core Motors providing over 1,000bhp and accelerating from 0-60mph in a matter of seconds.

However, the company has now revealed that the grand showcase at CES has set the company back a fair bit, as it had to halt building its factory in order to pay for the event.

Huge grounds were broken by the company on the enormous plant in the Nevada desert last year, but the company hit dire financial straits in October and work was stopped.

Nick Sampson, Senior Vice President of research and design acknowledged the company was facing challenges and said: “Clearly something like [CES] requires funding and some resources. We are resource-limited at times, [it’s] just a matter of keeping the cash flow balance between the different projects.”

There has not yet been a date for work to recommence. The launch was arguably the most extravagant one at this year’s CES, as it took place in a huge venue away from the famous strip in Vegas, and even had attendees such as the mayor of North Las Vegas, John Lee.

Sampson argued that the company was spinning several financial plates at the time. “The challenge of building a new company is that it’s not just doing the engineering and R&D work, we’ve got manufacturing to keep aligned, we’ve also got the whole sales and marketing, branding and imaging. It’s a matter of keeping the whole programme aligned."

Little is known about the Faraday Future finances, except that Jia Yueting is its biggest backer, a company who has had legal difficulties in owing to what supplier claim are unpaid bills.

Nearly $320m of the taxpayer’s money is subsidising the $1bn plant, which has attracted some intense criticism. However Mayor Lee insists that public will not be left short if Faraday Future pulls out of the project.

The $1bn plant is being subsidised by around $320m of taxpayer’s money, a deal which has attracted intense criticism, though Mr Lee has insisted the public will not be left out of pocket should Faraday Future pull out of the project.

Problems do not stop here for Faraday Future. Legal action has been taken against the firm against several suppliers including Futuris, a company specialising in luxury car interiors, is suing them for a breach of contract, demanding an immediate pay out of over $10m.

Sampson continued: “We’ve gone from nothing to where we are today in just over two years. Matching the speed of development and building with the inflow of cash doesn’t always match. Many companies have had this - Apple and Steve Jobs didn’t always have it easy in its early days. That’s one of the hurdles that we have to get over."

One area that the company is not struggling with is the electric car itself. The FF91 showcased for the first time also at CES, also travels like a rocket. Like the FFZERO1 model the car can travel 0-60mph in apparently 2.39 seconds. Although Tesla’s Chief Executive, Elon Musk disputes it; the FF91 is faster than a Tesla Model S.

Faraday Future have the hope that one day drivers will be able to leave their car at the side of a road and command it to drive off and park up using just an app on a mobile phone, this was shown in the demonstration.

This however is a long way off, especially the current situation the company is in. It is fair to acknowledge that the car industry is hard to get involved with, and as a new member it can be extremely difficult, this is arguably why there are so few involved.