(Yicai Global) May 31 -- Faraday Future, a smart car company set up in the United States by Chinese businessman Jia Yueting, today announced the delivery of its first production model, the FF 91. However, there will be no actual delivery to users for now.

Instead, Faraday Future said that it will launch phased deliveries, with the first -- and for the moment only -- phase starting on May 31. In the first phase, the first group of industry experts, namely Futurist Product Officers, will pay in full for the FF 91, in order to pre-order the vehicle and receive training in its use.

The FF 91 is said to be different from regular models, which means owners must accept Faraday Future’s training to have the technical ability to use the car before it is sold to them. Faraday Future calls these owners FPOs.

In the second phase of the delivery, all FPOs will pay the purchase price in full and will own the FF 91 models.

And it will be in the third phase that Faraday Future will actually deliver the FF 91 to the user. However, Faraday Future did not disclose when the third phase will start, only pointing out that the company will focus on delivering FF 91s to the US market by the end of 2023.

At today’s press conference, Jia also announced the price of the FF 91 2.0 Futurist Alliance for the first time, putting it at a surprisingly high USD309,000 per unit.

Faraday Future has repeatedly delayed delivery. According to a previous plan, the first batch of FF 91 Futurist Alliance -- limited to 300 units -- was scheduled to roll off the production line in early April and be delivered by the end of April. However, Faraday Future said then that the delivery of the new car could be delayed until the end of May, and now it claims that the cars will be “delivered in phases.”

According to Shanghai Securities News, a person close to Faraday Future said that the first owner of the new model is likely to be Jia himself.

Faraday Future posted USD6.5 million in net income, with a loss of USD153.1 million in the first quarter of this year. Since its establishment in 2014, the company had accumulated USD3.44 billion in losses by the end of 2022.

As of March 31 this year, Faraday Future had only USD33 million in cash, including USD1.5 million in restricted cash. Sufficient funds are a prerequisite for the mass production and delivery of autos, which may be the main reason why Faraday Future “urged” users to pay the full amount at today’s press conference.

Editor: Peter Thomas