ARIDGE sales manager says deliveries could start in the second half of 2027

Yang Jinbo, an ARIDGE sales manager, said at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai that deliveries could start in small batches as early as the second half of 2027, MyDrivers reported on 6 November. The reported pre-sale price is RMB2 million and includes a place on a pilot-training course. To get a licence, buyers need to pass a medical check, a theory test and a flying test.

In an August interview with Sina News, ARIDGE’s founder and president, Zhao Deli, said the company would try to start deliveries in 2027. He said ARIDGE was at a key stage in getting its airworthiness certificate, the approval that shows the aircraft meets safety standards. MyDrivers also pointed to local rules on where buyers can fly.

The Land Aircraft Carrier is a road vehicle that carries a separate aircraft in the back. Zhao said XPeng’s co-founder and chief executive, He Xiaopeng, chose that design in late 2022, when XPeng’s sales and share price were falling. ARIDGE had also considered a car that could take off in one piece and an air taxi like those made by the US company Joby Aviation. Zhao preferred the air taxi.

He Xiaopeng asked when each design could go on sale, who would buy it and where they could fly. His reasoning, Zhao said, was that owners would spend most of their time driving and fly only occasionally. The road vehicle and the aircraft could each be approved under existing rules. He Xiaopeng also thought the company could sell 10,000 a year at RMB2 million each.

Zhao said the factory is finished and can make 10,000 a year. In April, XPeng’s co-president Brian Gu told Reuters that the flying car had more than 7,000 orders, most of them in China.

Zhao said improving quality was his top priority, because a serious accident could put the company out of business. He said a typical aircraft programme builds about six aircraft for testing. ARIDGE built more than 200, he said, and tested them in extreme heat and cold, at high altitude and in places with strong radiation.

Zhao traced the partnership with He Xiaopeng back to 2020, when ARIDGE was nearly out of money. Its early investors put in a little more, and Zhao used the money to build a two-seat flying motorbike to take visitors flying. He Xiaopeng flew in it on 25 July 2020. A week later, the two sides agreed to work together. ARIDGE moved to Guangzhou, and He Xiaopeng became its chairman.

Zhao said Joby Aviation was a little over a year ahead in its technology and had a US market he envied. He expects ARIDGE to reach paying customers first. He also said Joby’s boss visited ARIDGE in late 2025, flew in its aircraft and came away impressed by China’s supply chain.

Zhao is due to speak next at Web Summit in Lisbon, which runs from 9 to 12 November, ARIDGE said on X.