AirCar on its way from Nitra to Bratislava (source: Courtesy of Klein Vision)
The Slovak company Klein Vision, which is developing the AirCar flying car has sold the licence to produce it to Chinese investor Hebei Jianxin Flying Car Technology. Štefan Klein, founder and CEO of Klein Vision, announced the news on Thursday, April 4, at a press conference in Bratislava in the presence of representatives from the Chinese investor. They did not specify the value of the contract.
“This deal creates preconditions for completing the development of a pre-production prototype and building a flying car factory in China,” said Klein, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
The price of the model could be somewhere around that of a four-seater aircraft, i.e. €500,000-€600,000, Klein told the Pravda daily.
This breakthrough deal for Slovak developers was made possible thanks to a longstanding relationship between the co-investor in the transaction, United Industries – particularly its president Eduard Šebo – and its Chinese partners.
The main player on the Chinese side is Zhu Shouchen, who as an aviation enthusiast owns and operates an airport and aviation school in Cangzhou. His portfolio also includes a plant for the production of the Shark ultra-light aircraft for the Chinese market, which, like AirCar, also has roots in Slovakia.
The Chinese aviation industry is experiencing rapid growth, according to Jozef Jankovič, who flew the Slovak flying car in China. The market is expected to become the largest in the world in the next few years, he said, adding that the Chinese government is investing in the development of aviation infrastructure and supporting the growth of domestic airlines. It is also expected to simplify administration and licensing for general aviation. This should create space for the use of the AirCar in Chinese airspace.
The shareholders in Hebei Jianxin Flying Car Technology are Jianxin Aviation Technology, Hebei Jianxin Chemical, Zhongjie City Investment Group, Cangzhou City Transportation Group and China CEE SME Cooperation, a Slovak company.
The AirCar is a two-seat vehicle that can be converted from a car to a plane in less than three minutes. It has a range of 1,000 kilometres and can fly at 300 km/h.
The AirCar has successfully completed a full testing programme and received a certificate of airworthiness from the Slovak authorities in 2023.
Klein started to develop AirCar after selling his share in AeroMobil, where he had developed his first flying car model. AeroMobil went bust last year, after 12 years in existence, after investors refused to put any more money into the project.
