Faraday Future is looking at another setback after stopping work at its $1 billion factory

Bryan Logan/Business Insider

Faraday Future, the troubled upstart electric-car company that set out to challenge Tesla, appears to have encountered another setback.

According to a report from the Financial Times on Thursday, Faraday Future is likely to miss a shipping deadline for its first production vehicles. The company initially said it could bring its cars to market in 2017.

Construction was recently halted at the company's $1 billion North Las Vegas factory. A Faraday Future spokesperson told Business Insider last week that the company is "refocusing efforts" on its upcoming production vehicle in the meantime.

Faraday Future says it will unveil that car at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. However, the company's goal to get those cars rolling off of an assembly line by 2017 is in doubt.

A former Faraday Future employee cited by the Financial Times said the 2017 timeline was “not possible."

The startup so far has no factory in which to build the cars.

Nevada state officials and Faraday Future executives attended a ceremonial groundbreaking for its inaugural plant in North Las Vegas in April. Business Insider was also there, as was Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval who lauded the project as a "new beginning" and "the next chapter in the Nevada story."

Although the state of Nevada has offered Faraday Future millions of dollars in tax incentives, state treasurer Dan Schwartz was one of the project's most vocal skeptics. In several conversations with Business Insider, Schwartz said he doubted Faraday Future had the financial means to complete the project.

The company is primarily backed by LeEco chairman Jia Yueting, who recently expressed surprise that the car business is a costly endeavor. LeEco is also developing its own electric car.

Jia wrote a letter to employees earlier this month saying "We sped blindly ahead ... our cash demand ballooned. We got overextended in our global strategy. At the same time, our capital and resources were in fact limited."

A group of Chinese investors reportedly raised $600 million this month to help boost LeEco.

A Faraday Future representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

NOW WATCH: Richard Branson: Entrepreneurs need to fill the gap where government is lacking