Geely in talks with Hainan to land its flying car

One year after its acquisition of US flying-car maker Terrafugia, Chinese private automaker Geely has launched talks with South China's Hainan province for a landing of its flying car project, Hainan Daily reported.

"Flying cars of Geely will assist the tourism island with more convenient and individualized travel experience," said Yang Xueliang, vice-president of Geely, on Nov 13.

Transition, the first flying car model of Geely's subsidiary Terrafugia, is a hybrid with 600 kilometers' flying mileage. Terrafugia began taking orders in October, and will start delivery in 2019.

As the first product of Terrafugia, the Transition will be sold initially only in the United States. With foldable wings, the two-seat flying car can switch from ground running mode to flying mode within one minute. Powered with a four-cylinder turbocharged gasoline engine, the model can reach a maximum speed of 160 km/h in the air. The company has not yet disclosed the price.

Terrafugia was founded in 2006 by five graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, according to the official website of Terrafugia. It aims to make available the world's first VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) flying car by 2023.

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group announced its acquisition of all operations and assets of Terrafugia on Nov 13, 2017.

Geely's ambition is not limited to flying cars. Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holdings, signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China Aerospace Science and Industry Co Ltd at the recent Airshow China in Zhuhai, to build high-speed flying trains using magnetic levitation technology in vacuum pipeline, according to a report of auto.sohu.com.

Headquartered in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, Geely remains one of China's largest private automakers. It sold 1,247,000 vehicles in 2017, and registered sales revenue of 92.76 billion yuan ($13.36 billion).