Xpeng Aeroht will build a manufacturing center for flying cars in Guangzhou, which will first be used to produce the flying body of its modular flying car.
Xpeng Aeroht, the flying car subsidiary of Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV), will build a factory in Guangzhou to mass-produce flying cars, where it previously had a trial plant.
Xpeng Aeroht signed an investment and cooperation agreement with Guangzhou development district authorities today, which will provide support in the areas of land use, financing, and flying car application scenarios, according to a press release.
Xpeng Aeroht will build a research and development, manufacturing, and sales center for flying cars in the Guangzhou development district to conduct product testing, production, sales, and operations.
The manufacturing center will be the world's first flying car factory to utilize a modern assembly line for large-scale mass production, and will first be used to produce the flying body portion of its modular flying car, Xpeng Aeroht said.
Founded in 2013, Xpeng Aeroht is a technology arm majority-owned by Guangzhou-based Xpeng and its chairman and CEO, He Xiaopeng.
At the Shanghai auto show in April 2021, the company unveiled the X1, which is the size of a regular car and can take off and land vertically in a parking space.
On July 25, 2022, Xpeng Aeroht put into operation its first trial plant, which is located in Hualong town, Panyu district, Guangzhou, and consists of two pilot production workshops, a power test center, and a flying car test center.
It would be used primarily for pre-production prototyping, process validation and performance testing of flying cars, and would also be used to support pre-production research and testing for other projects, Xpeng Aeroht said at the time.
At its technology day event on October 24, 2023, Xpeng said Aeroht's development path for flying cars will include electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) flying cars and modular flying cars.
The modular vehicle will consist of a flying car and a parent vehicle that will power the flying car.
The mother vehicle will have an extended-range powertrain, 6*6 all-wheel drive, and support rear-wheel steering.
On March 21, the type certificate application for the flying car's flying body, product code X3-F, was accepted by the Civil Aviation Administration of China Central and Southern Region.
Xpeng Aeroht said today that it plans to begin pre-sales of the modular flying car in the fourth quarter of this year at the Guangzhou auto show, which is in line with the timetable previously mentioned by Xpeng.
Xpeng Aeroht to start pre-orders for its modular flying car in China in Q4