Today's Edition
(BLOOMBERG)
In a city that’s no stranger to jaw-dropping sights, a Chinese-made flying car hovering over a Dubai beach resort still turned heads.
Demonstrating a manned flight of its new Land Aircraft Carrier to a select crowd in the UAE on Sunday, Guangzhou-based Aridge was making its latest pitch to become a transport option of choice for people in the the Gulf.
Released from the trunk of a robust, wheeled mothership - essentially, an outsized, futuristic-looking people carrier - the electric aircraft can take off and land vertically like a conventional helicopter. It has already attracted 600 pre-orders, according to Aridge.
Aridge’s flying car, which is controlled by a joystick and has an automated flight mode, will cost under $270,000 in the Chinese market. No price has yet been announced for the UAE.
"It is designed to be accessible and able to be flown by ordinary people, everyone - you don’t need to be a professional pilot,” Michael Chao Du, Aridge’s chief financial officer and vice president, said in an interview.
Aridge is a unit of XPENG Motors, which rebranded from XPENG AEROHT.
Advances in battery technology have led to dozens of flying taxi companies taking to the skies around the world.
Joby Aviation, a Santa Cruz-based operator of so-called electrical vertical takeoff and landing craft, also plans to introduce an air taxi service to Dubai.
The first public manned flight of Aridge’s Land Aircraft Carrier at Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah on Sunday came after Aridge in September secured a special flight permit for an overseas manned aircraft from the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority. It will need other authorisations to operate and sell following this test phase.
Aridge says it has begun mass production at a Chinese facility capable of producing 10,000 units a year. It expects the first consumer sales in 2027.
