{"id":1773332,"date":"2026-02-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1773332"},"modified":"2026-02-16T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T21:00:00","slug":"beam-us-up-xpeng-has-7000-orders-for-its-bonkers-land-aircraft-carrier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1773332","title":{"rendered":"Beam us up: Xpeng has 7,000 orders for its bonkers Land Aircraft Carrier"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Here in the UK, Xpeng has only just begun selling its rather generic crossover, the G6<\/a>. And yet, in China it\u2019s about to do something pretty remarkable.<\/p>\n

You see, the pictures above are from Xpeng\u2019s subsidiary Aridge (previously known as AeroHT). They show the excellently titled Land Aircraft Carrier, which is described by its makers as \u201cthe world\u2019s first modular flying car<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Already pretty bonkers, isn\u2019t it? And then you learn that Xpeng has promised actual customer deliveries later in 2026. Good grief.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe factory is ready,\u201d said Sven De Smet, head of brand and marketing for Xpeng Europe recently.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cI had the pleasure of visiting the facility recently where they\u2019re building the pre-production versions right now. It\u2019s not a dream. We have 7,000 orders. Later on this year, we will start fulfilling them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yep, that\u2019s an actual 6×6 van plus electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft combo that customers will be getting hold of in just a few months\u2019 time. Although, there is one more hurdle for Xpeng to cross before early adopters start taking to the skies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cJust to show how we are as a company, our CEO has said that the whole management team needs to fly the flying car before we deliver to customers,\u201d says De Smet. \u201cSo even the CFO now is looking at the daunting task of learning to fly a prototype and being able to master it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite these aggressive targets we\u2019re yet to get proper details on either part of the Land Aircraft Carrier. However, we do know that the giant four-seat van will get rear-hinged doors, rear-wheel steering and a range-extender powertrain that\u2019ll do over 1,000km at a time. It\u2019ll also charge the aircraft\u2026 thing.<\/p>\n

The flying pod is essentially a giant six-rotor drone with a single-lever control system, automatic takeoff, autonomous navigation and a dizzying array of safety systems.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Reckon we\u2019ll be seeing these on our roads (and in our skies) any time soon?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here in the UK, Xpeng has only just begun selling its rather generic crossover, the G6. And yet, in China it\u2019s about to do something pretty remarkable. You see, the pictures above are from Xpeng\u2019s subsidiary Aridge (previously known as AeroHT). They show the excellently titled Land Aircraft Carrier, which is described by its makers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,237],"class_list":["post-1773332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-topgear-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1773332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1773332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1773332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1773332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}