Industry dynamics

Xpeng CEO no longer chairman of EV maker's flying car division

Publishtime:2019/08/16 Views:12

Xpeng Aeroht, a technology division mostly owned by He Xiaopeng, aims to have its sixth-generation flying car concept in mass production by 2024.

After the change attracted widespread attention due to massive media coverage, Mr. He responded on Weibo that the move was made to increase efficiency.

Mr. He said Xpeng Aeroht is a wholly owned subsidiary of Xpeng's HT Flying Car, and that it's enough for him to be chairman at HT Flying Car.

"I will share the latest progress of the flying car with you again on 1024 Tech Day," he said.

Xpeng Aeroht is the technology division mostly owned by Mr. He and was previously known as HT Aero.

At its annual Tech Day event last October 24, Xpeng unveiled Xpeng Aeroht's sixth-generation flying car concept, a vehicle that can both drive on land like a normal car and fly through the air.

Mr. He said at the time that the company aims to have the flying car in mass production by 2024, and that the price is expected to be under RMB 1 million ($138,000).

At the end of July, Xpeng Aeroht put into operation its first pilot plant, which is located in Hualong town, Panyu district, Guangzhou, covering 35,000 square meters and consisting of two pilot production workshops, a power test center and a flying car test center.

It will be used mainly for pre-production, process validation and performance testing of the flying car before mass production, and will also be used to support pre-production research and testing of other projects.

The change in registration information comes after Xpeng Aeroht announced on September 9 that 11 members of the company will take three X2 flying cars to Dubai for flight testing and will participate in the GITEX GLOBAL event there from October 10-14.

Xpeng Aeroht shared the information on Weibo at the time, and Mr. He retweeted it on his Weibo account.

XPeng's flying car unit builds trial plant to accelerate development