Electric car startup Faraday Future said on Thursday it will start production of its first model, the FF 91 SUV, in the third quarter this year.

The company, based in California, the United States, was founded in 2014 by Chinese businessman Jia Yueting, who is also the founder of Leshi Holding Group.

Faraday Future confirmed the production schedule when it unveiled on Thursday its first production-intent model produced at its Hanford plant in California.

Production-intent vehicles feature production-specification components, said the carmaker.

It said it will build several production-intent vehicles over the coming months for final engineering validation and certification.

"Building the first production-intent vehicle at the Hanford plant is an important step towards reaching the start of production in the third quarter," said Matt Tall, vice-president of manufacturing at the carmaker.

"This iteration is the closest to the FF 91 production model we’ve seen to-date," he said.

In addition to the FF 91, the company is also planning to launch the FF 81 series in 2023 and the FF 71 series in 2024.

Faraday Future said it expects to sell more than 400,000 vehicles cumulatively over the next five years.

The carmaker went public at Nasdaq in July 2021 through a deal with Property Solutions Acquisition Corp.