Beam us up: Xpeng has 7,000 orders for its bonkers Land Aircraft Carrier

Here in the UK, Xpeng has only just begun selling its rather generic crossover, the G6. And yet, in China it’s about to do something pretty remarkable.

You see, the pictures above are from Xpeng’s subsidiary Aridge (previously known as AeroHT). They show the excellently titled Land Aircraft Carrier, which is described by its makers as “the world’s first modular flying car”.

Already pretty bonkers, isn’t it? And then you learn that Xpeng has promised actual customer deliveries later in 2026. Good grief.

“The factory is ready,” said Sven De Smet, head of brand and marketing for Xpeng Europe recently.

“I had the pleasure of visiting the facility recently where they’re building the pre-production versions right now. It’s not a dream. We have 7,000 orders. Later on this year, we will start fulfilling them.”

Yep, that’s an actual 6x6 van plus electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft combo that customers will be getting hold of in just a few months’ time. Although, there is one more hurdle for Xpeng to cross before early adopters start taking to the skies.

“Just to show how we are as a company, our CEO has said that the whole management team needs to fly the flying car before we deliver to customers,” says De Smet. “So even the CFO now is looking at the daunting task of learning to fly a prototype and being able to master it.”

Despite these aggressive targets we’re yet to get proper details on either part of the Land Aircraft Carrier. However, we do know that the giant four-seat van will get rear-hinged doors, rear-wheel steering and a range-extender powertrain that’ll do over 1,000km at a time. It’ll also charge the aircraft… thing.

The flying pod is essentially a giant six-rotor drone with a single-lever control system, automatic takeoff, autonomous navigation and a dizzying array of safety systems.

Reckon we’ll be seeing these on our roads (and in our skies) any time soon?