Xpeng Motors will spend RMB 3 billion ($413 million) on Japanits electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft business this year and aims to operate an assembly plant with a production capacity of 10,000 units next year, Chief Executive He Xiaopeng said March 29. The factory, located in Guangzhou, where Xpeng is headquartered, will be the world’s first capable of mass-producing flying cars, He said at an annual forum organized by the EV100 think tank in Beijing. The Chinese electric vehicle maker expects the global eVTOL sector to reach $2 trillion over the next two decades, representing one-fifth of the world’s car market in terms of sales revenue. Xpeng Aeroht, a subsidiary of the automaker, submitted an airworthiness certificate application last March to the Civil Aviation Administration of China for its modular flying car, the Land Aircraft Carrier, which has a flight range of less than 30 kilometers (19 miles). [TechNode reporting, http://chinastarmarket.cn, in Chinese]
