VW

Volkswagen group's Chinese division creates functional electric air taxi prototype

Volkswagen China has for the first time shown a working prototype of its own electric air taxi. The four-seater “Flying Tiger” for VW was designed by British designers from the tangerine company and launched by Chinese Sunward. The first airlifts will begin later this year, with plans to begin a series of flight tests in 2023.

The Chinese division for the “new means of air mobility” project was created by VW in 2021. The bet in this case on China is indicative – there are affordable means of production and there is a promising market in which even risky measures can be justified. The company claims that the air taxi V.MO (short for Vertical Mobility) or Flying Tiger was designed after consultations with more than a hundred of China's wealthy, which also indicates the target audience for the development.

The device was released in the year of the Tiger and so it received a tiger coloring and the second name “Flying Tiger”.

Of the technical characteristics, eight electric motors oriented vertically in the wing structure for vertical climb and landing and two motors with horizontally oriented propellers for horizontal flight stand out. The device will be able to carry four passengers with luggage over a distance of up to 200 km. The device is 11.6m long and 10.6m wide, other parameters are not reported.

Lifting tests will begin later this year. Based on the result, an improved prototype will be created, the full flight tests of which are planned at the end of next summer.

Image source: VW