AeroHT, the eVTOL and “flying car” business arm of XPeng, has moved closer to full-fledged production, paving the way for a new factory in China capable of assembling 10,000 units per year.
Once completed, the installation will build the AeroHT flagship commercial product – an eVTOL/vehicle combo called the “Land Aircraft Carrier”.

After a decade of development, AeroHT was able to present success at the start of flight with eVTOL prototypes like its X2 “flying car,” which shares design DNA with XPeng brand electric vehicles. However, things really got interesting in October 2023, during XPeng’s annual 1024 event, when AeroHT unveiled two new vehicle models.

The demonstration included a real flying car called the X3 that can drive, park and take off all by yourself and a modular electric vehicle called the “Land Aircraft Carrier” that carries a separate eVTOL in the rear. The latter was initially supposed to enter large-scale production in 2025 ahead of customer deliveries in China, but AeroHT has since pushed back these deliveries until 2026.

Nevertheless, last March, the EV/eVTOL combo vessel obtained airworthiness certification by the Central and South China Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC). More recently, AeroHT has focused on initiating crewed test flights and establishing the production infrastructure to deliver the land-based aircraft carrier to the general public. This construction process is now officially underway.

According to a recent release of XPeng AeroHT, the company broke ground on the construction of its new “flying car” manufacturing base in Guangzhou, China. AeroHT said that once completed, the production facility will be the first in the world to apply advanced assembly line processes for large-scale flying car production.

The initial production site covers approximately 180,000 square meters and will include four large flying car construction workshops: a composite workshop, an assembly workshop, a paint workshop and an assembly workshop. By combining the high-precision assembly techniques of the aerospace industry with the efficiency of mass automotive production, AeroHT aims to improve quality consistency, reduce production costs and shorten delivery times. AeroHT founder Zhao Deli explained:

This manufacturing base adheres to the principles of excellence, intelligence and ecology, establishing a global benchmark for the production of flying cars.

Zhao added that AeroHT is dedicated to the in-house development and manufacturing of core technologies within the production facility to ensure quality control, profitability and maximized customer value.

As mentioned above, AeroHT conducted its first crewed test flight of the “Land Aircraft Carrier” before the unique ship makes its global public flight debut at the China Airshow on November 12, 2024. By AeroHT, pre-sales of the combo EV/eVTOL is still expected to start before the end of 2024, even if production and deliveries are pushed back to 2026.

The cost is expected to be less than $280,000.