The £220,000 ‘flying car’ which makers hope to sell as early as next year

This minivan is much more than meets the eye, as it has a nifty little aircraft stowed in the back instead of an extra tyre.

It looks like something out of James Bond, as you can just imagine 007 pressing a button to activate flight after getting cornered in a seemingly inesecapable bind.

But a factory is under construction to build thousands of them, and a prototype was displayed at a key conference displaying new tech innovations in Las Vegas earlier this month.

The XPeng Aero HT Land Aircraft Carrier is all-electric, including the helicopter-like aircraft in the back, which is powered by six rotar blades and can take off vertically.

Hippie couples once used to enjoy driving off in their VW campervan to explorethe countryside.

But in a not-too-distant future they could be parking up at a beauty spot and taking a half hour scenic flight over the coast – or at least, that’s what its promo video would seem to suggest.

Flying cars have bene a mainstay of science fiction for decades but have never really made it to the real world.

XPeng Aeroht says it will have a pre-sale ‘coming soon’, is preparing for factory production, and hopes to have the vehicle on the market in 2026 at a cost of around £220,000.

Sales would only be in China at first, but if the model proves succssful then they have plans to go further afield.

‘We are committed to creating safe, intelligent low-altitude mobility products, such as flying cars, for a variety of user needs,’ they said.

‘Whether it’s personal flight, aerial commuting, or public services, we are driving the transformation of low-altitude mobility, bringing the freedom and convenience of flight to everyone.’

An obvious problem with using a gadget on your ‘flyng car’ to commute is that you can’t just fly somewhere wherever you want.

To fly a crewed helicopter (to give the nearest equivalent being used in the UK), you need a licence, and there are strict limitations on where it can be flown.

The company says it is ‘setting up flying camps around cities and along classic road trip routes’ which will feature landing platforms and unobstructed airspace conditions in order to get around this issue, with 130 locations signed up already.

Additionally, it says the aircraft is self-driving and can operate entirely on autopilot.

Its first public flight demonstation of the ‘land aircraft carrier’ was in November last year at the International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, Guangdong.

During the descent, the air module ‘gracefully descended from an 80-meter height, akin to an eagle descending, and landed flawlessly,’ manufacturers claimed.

The two ‘modules’ (ground and air) are able to separate and reconnect automatically, without having to struggle to lift a heavy aircaft back into the boot.

But some will say it is not truly a ‘flying car’ as the wheels stay firmly on the ground, meaning the flying element is more like a standard quadcopter.

Other products in development fit the ‘flying car’ label more thoroughly, such as the Samson Sky Switchblade which can transform from ground to air use in less than three minutes.

The Doroni Aerospace Flying Car promises a ‘life without limits’ as its H1-X ‘redefines movement’.

‘As cities grow and roads fill to capacity, we’re stuck in an endless cycle of construction, overproduction, and congestion, limiting our ability to connect, move, and truly experience freedom—until now,’ Doroni says.

The XPeng model is getting a lot of attention because it could really be mass produced as early as this year, though it will need to clear certification first.

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