The archive · Hardware & Devices · Strategic decision · 2013–2026
XPeng AeroHT bets the Land Aircraft Carrier makes flying cars a mass-market product
XPeng's flying-car arm lands 2,008 pre-orders at Airshow China, raises a $250M Series B, and pushes the X3-F modular aircraft toward 2026 deliveries.
XPeng AeroHT (小鹏汇天)
What the business is
XPeng AeroHT (rebranded Aridge in late 2025) is XPeng's flying-car affiliate: it builds the Land Aircraft Carrier, a six-wheel electric van that carries, charges and launches a two-seat quad-rotor X3-F flight pod, targeting consumer ownership from 2026.
Starting capital：Over $750M raised: XPeng's July 2020 investment, $500M+ Series A (Oct 2021, then Asia's largest manned low-altitude aviation deal), $150M Series B1 led by three Guangzhou state-owned investors (Aug 2024), and $100M Series B2 completing the $250M Series B (July 2025).
How it started
Founded in 2013 as a technology division and majority-owned by XPeng and He Xiaopeng, AeroHT got its first backing in July 2020 and a $500M+ Series A in October 2021 — then Asia's largest financing in manned low-altitude aviation. On September 3, 2024 it unveiled the Land Aircraft Carrier, billing it as the world's first production-ready modular flying car.
What happened
At Airshow China in November 2024 AeroHT signed 2,008 pre-orders with 12 customers from transportation, tourism, real estate and technology — the largest single order in global flying-car history — and performed the aircraft's first public manned flight. It broke ground on a Guangzhou factory with planned annual capacity of 10,000 units, and its X3-F aircraft had a type-certificate application accepted (March 2024) and a production-certificate application accepted (May 2025). A $250M Series B closed in July 2025.
How it ended up
Still running: mass production fast-tracked with the Guangzhou factory topping out and scheduled for completion in Q4 2025; first customer deliveries planned for 2026 at no more than RMB 2 million. In October 2025, now branded Aridge, the X3-F flew over Dubai's Palm Jumeirah and 600 GCC purchase agreements pushed reported global pre-orders above 7,000.
Background
XPeng AeroHT (小鹏汇天, rebranded Aridge in late 2025) is the flying-car affiliate of Chinese EV maker XPeng, founded in 2013 as a technology division and majority-owned by XPeng and its chairman He Xiaopeng. Its bet is that flying cars become a consumer product, not a pilot's toy: a modular 'Land Aircraft Carrier' — a six-wheel electric van that carries, charges and launches a two-seat quad-rotor aircraft.
The money came early and big: XPeng invested in July 2020, a $500M+ Series A followed in October 2021 (then Asia's largest deal in manned low-altitude aviation), and a $250M Series B closed in July 2025, bringing total funding past $750M. In September 2024 the company unveiled the Land Aircraft Carrier, billing it as the world's first production-ready modular flying car, drivable with a standard C1/C2 license.
At Airshow China in November 2024, AeroHT signed 2,008 pre-orders with 12 customers in transportation, tourism, real estate and technology — the largest single order in the global flying car space to date — and performed the aircraft's first public manned flight. It broke ground on a Guangzhou factory with a planned annual capacity of 10,000 units, and its X3-F aircraft had type-certificate (March 2024) and production-certificate (May 2025) applications accepted by the Chinese regulator.
In October 2025, now branded Aridge, the X3-F completed its first manned flight in the Middle East over Dubai's Palm Jumeirah, and 600 purchase agreements with GCC buyers brought reported global pre-orders above 7,000. The company planned factory completion for Q4 2025 and first deliveries in 2026, at a price no higher than RMB 2 million.
What has to be true
- The modular design defused the two consumer blockers at once: the van recharges the pod, and a standard C1/C2 driver's license is enough to operate it.
- AeroHT ran regulation and production in parallel — TC application accepted in March 2024, PC application in May 2025 — so the factory and delivery plans were aligned to the certification calendar.
- Large pre-orders (2,008 at one airshow) plus a 10,000-unit factory turned a moonshot narrative into a production narrative that investors could underwrite.
- Riding XPeng's ecosystem and $750M+ of capital let the company build flight control, powertrain and composites in-house instead of stitching together suppliers.
What can be applied
Boring the product down helped: license it like a car, price it like a car, let the ground vehicle recharge the aircraft — orders followed once the flying car stopped looking like a plane.
Aftermath
As of 2026-09-02, the Land Aircraft Carrier is in the ramp to mass production: the Guangzhou factory topped out and was scheduled to complete in Q4 2025, with first customer deliveries planned for 2026 at no more than RMB 2 million (~$277,000). The X3-F received a special flight permit in the UAE in September 2025 and flew over Dubai in October 2025; 600 GCC orders pushed reported global pre-orders past 7,000. AeroHT's stated three-phase strategy runs from off-road flying scenarios to inter-city air mobility to 'free flying for all'; profitability has not been reported.
Sources
- Xpeng Aeroht says its modular flying car gets 2008 pre-orders at Airshow China
- XPENG AEROHT raises $250 million in Series B financing
- Middle East Buyers Sign for 600 Xpeng Land Aircraft Carriers
- 全球媒体聚焦：中国飞行汽车将成为海湾地区空中新奇观
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