Chinese electric vehicle (EV) company Xpeng has announced plans to begin mass production of their flying cars by 2026, CNA reports.
Their flying cars—or as they call it, “land aircraft carriers”—each feature a passenger drone that unfolds from the boot of a six-wheeled van and are priced at under two million yuan (S$367,021).
These vehicles can seat four people in the car and two in the drone.
How it works is simple—theoretically, users could drive themselves to a take-off site, detach the drone, climb in, and continue the rest of their journey by air. This would potentially reduce their travel time and improve accessibility to remote areas.
Xpeng’s flying cars made their first public flight at the 2024 China Airshow in Zhuhai City in November and debuted on the international stage at the CES electronics show in Las Vegas two months later.
The company’s flying car manufacturing base is currently under construction and is scheduled to be completed in the third quarter of 2025, with deliveries expected to begin in 2026. The facility is said to be able to produce up to 10,000 flying cars a year.
Will we see flying cars in Singapore, too?
According to CNA, the low-altitude economy in China is taking off, thanks to the government policies supporting its growth.
Officials have indicated that the sector, which encompasses economic activity in airspace below 1,000 meters, is projected to reach over US$200 billion (or about S$266 billion) in 2025 and double in 10 years.
With a global powerhouse like China making flying cars a reality, one might wonder if Singapore could follow suit.
In the city-state, one company—Volocopter, which is based in Germany—had previously announced its plans to launch an air taxi service in Singapore sometime back in 2023.
However, despite receiving strong interest from consumers, its launch has unfortunately been put on hold indefinitely—The Straits Times reported last November that the company, which has set up its APAC headquarters in Singapore, has failed to gather local cost-sharing partners to fund its operations.
“We are therefore revising our Singapore launch strategy and timeline. We will continue to look for local cost-sharing partners, and Singapore remains our Asia-Pacific headquarters. Once the partners have been found, we will reconsider the launch timeline in Singapore,” said a company spokesperson.
The company also filed for insolvency in December 2024, with 450 staff laid off effective March 3, 2025. However, it seems that they have found a lifeline, as Chinese manufacturing company Wanfeng Auto Holding Group is set to pay €10 million (est. S$14.5 million) to acquire Volocopter.
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Like Volocopter, many eVOTOL companies in other international markets face cost challenges.
Currently, the air taxi sector remains niche and, in our opinion, underdeveloped—which might lead many investors to hesitate to pump money into it, especially in an uncertain economic environment.
Experts who spoke to The Straits Times shared that for the sector to grow, there need to be “clear regulatory guidelines” set and strong interest from consumers in Singapore.
As it stands now, it will be a while before we see air taxis in our city-state.
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Featured Image Credit: XPENG AEROHT
