At the headquarters of XPeng Aeroht in Guangzhou, the exhibition hall is filled with models, ranging from the modular flying car "Land Aircraft Carrier" to the fully-tiltable hybrid-electric flying car A868. Within just a few years, the concept of flying cars has evolved from blueprints into tangible reality. With the "Land Aircraft Carrier" scheduled for mass delivery this year, XPeng Aeroht is poised to enter a new phase of rapid development, accelerating its pace and making forward-looking arrangements in configuration innovation and system integration to build two major flight systems covering personal low-altitude flight experiences and efficient low-altitude travel. Currently, the low-altitude economy industry has been included in the draft proposal for the "16th Five-Year Plan," aiming to accelerate the scaled development of emerging industries, thereby ushering in new opportunities for three-dimensional low-altitude mobility. As a national hub for low-altitude economic development, Guangdong has gathered over 30% of China's low-altitude industry chain enterprises. A scene of multiple Guangdong-based companies, including XPeng Aeroht, EHang Holdings Ltd, and DJI Innovation, competing in the skies is unfolding, demonstrating the continuous vitality of the low-altitude economy industry.

The concretization of flying cars is driving efficient urban transit. A capital increase to 900 million yuan, a 38% surge! Recently, Guangzhou Huitian Flying Car Manufacturing Co., Ltd. underwent a business registration change, increasing its registered capital from 650 million yuan to 900 million yuan, a rise of approximately 38%. XPeng Aeroht started the year with a "strong opening," further accelerating its development pace in 2024. From personal flight experiences to intercity travel, XPeng Aeroht is once again pushing the concept of "flying cars" to the forefront of industrialization. Among its projects, the modular flying car "Land Aircraft Carrier" can deploy flight camps around urban peripheries and along self-driving tourism routes, enabling "self-flying" excursions from these camps for leisure travel near cities. Meanwhile, the fully-tiltable hybrid-electric flying car A868, built on XPeng Inc.'s Kunpeng super range-extending architecture and utilizing a self-developed aviation-grade hybrid-electric power core, is expected to achieve a long range of 500km and a top speed of 360 km/h, targeting efficient transit within urban clusters. Through the dual-line strategy of the "Land Aircraft Carrier" and the A868, XPeng Aeroht is establishing two major flight systems covering personal low-altitude flight experiences and efficient low-altitude travel, achieving initial implementation on both fronts. This also signifies the further concretization and commercial landing of the "flying car" concept.

The modular flying car "Land Aircraft Carrier" is planned for mass delivery in 2026, while the A868 prototype successfully completed its maiden test flight last November, formally entering the critical phase of flight verification, with an expected official launch in 3 to 5 years. In recent years, the low-altitude economy industry has become a fiercely competitive field. The draft proposal for the "16th Five-Year Plan" indicates intentions to cultivate and strengthen emerging and future industries, accelerate the development of strategic emerging industrial clusters such as new energy, new materials, aerospace, and the low-altitude economy, and speed up the scaling of these emerging industries. Within the global eVTOL competitive landscape, Chinese companies are gradually transitioning from technology followers to rule participants. Against this macro backdrop, the debut of XPeng Aeroht's A868 can be seen as a key move by a Chinese company in the high-tech barrier segment of eVTOL "long-distance travel," highly aligned with the "16th Five-Year Plan's" development strategy for the low-altitude economy. Based on its two core products, the A868 and the Land Aircraft Carrier, XPeng Aeroht is building flight systems that cover both personal low-altitude flight experiences and efficient low-altitude travel, aiming to pioneer a new mode of three-dimensional low-altitude mobility through a "dual-drive" model.

A new "air-ground integration" business model is aiming to create a "1-hour transportation circle." A white paper on China's manned eVTOL industry released by Boston Consulting Group predicts that by 2040, China's eVTOL market scale will reach $41 billion. Personal flight and travel eVTOLs are expected to be the two core directions. This implies that the development of the low-altitude economy industry will encounter new opportunities. This year, XPeng Aeroht's focus remains on the research, development, and commercialization of the "Land Aircraft Carrier" flying car, with next-generation flying car products to be gradually introduced in the future. XPeng Aeroht has proposed a "three-step" product strategy for flying cars: the first step involves launching the modular "Land Aircraft Carrier" for leisure travel around cities; the second step, expected in 3-5 years, involves launching the next-generation product A868 for efficient commuting between and around urban areas, initiating advanced urban air mobility; the third step, as a long-term strategy, involves creating an integrated land-air flying car to truly achieve door-to-door, end-to-end three-dimensional travel. From R&D to mature technology, application scenarios, and ecosystem development, this is estimated to take roughly 8-10 years to realize.

"In terms of commercial landing, Aeroht is actively exploring cooperation directions with local governments, scenic spots, airports, and others nationwide. Aeroht has already signed strategic cooperation agreements with multiple local governments to accelerate the commercial landing of the local low-altitude industry. By 2026, Aeroht plans to establish 200 flight camps across the country and has initiated explorations in 'low-altitude + culture and tourism' with locations like Hainan and Dunhuang, providing a replicable 'air-ground integration' business model for the low-altitude economy," stated Qiu Mingquan, Vice President of XPeng Aeroht. The design of the A868 directly targets the "1-hour transportation circle" of urban clusters like the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Yangtze River Delta, and is expected to become a supplementary mode for intercity commuting between 2027 and 2030. In the global eVTOL competition, Chinese enterprises are progressively shifting from being technology followers to participants in rule-making. The low-altitude economy industry is facing unprecedented development opportunities, showing a positive trend of diverse players advancing together. With an increasing number of entrants, China's low-altitude economy market presents both opportunities and challenges. How to leverage technological innovation to create differentiated competition has become one of the key issues for future development planning.

Guangdong is building an industrial highland as the low-altitude economy accelerates at a "sprinting" pace. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area hosted a high-quality development conference on the low-altitude economy, Shanghai introduced new policies related to the low-altitude economy, Zhejiang established a Low-Altitude Safety Management Association, and Sichuan is building a low-altitude power industrial park... China's low-altitude economy industry is in a phase of rapid expansion, transitioning from industrial cultivation to the sprint stage of scaling and commercialization. According to the "China Low-Altitude Economic Development Research Report (2024)" released by CCID Consulting, China's low-altitude economy scale is expected to reach 2 trillion yuan by 2030. It's not just XPeng Aeroht accelerating its launch; the scene of "vying for the skies" is playing out across multiple locations in the Greater Bay Area. EHang's EH216-S has obtained all three necessary airworthiness certificates and has completed manned flights in multiple locations, significantly speeding up its commercial operations. GAC's unmanned flying car achieved rapid recharge in 25 minutes... Leveraging its strong industrial foundation, Guangdong has achieved a leading position in the low-altitude economy industry, aiming to maintain this advantage.

Data from the Provincial Development and Reform Commission shows that Guangdong aggregates over 30% of China's low-altitude industry chain enterprises, totaling 15,000 companies. In 2024, Guangdong's output of civil drones reached 6.94 million units, ranking first nationally, with consumer-grade drones holding a 95% market share and industrial-grade drones a 54% share in China. Qiu Mingquan stated that all of XPeng Aeroht's development is inseparable from the fertile ground for the low-altitude economy that Guangzhou provides. "Guangdong has given us three key supports: First, the foundation to 'get airborne.' The rich talent pool and supply chain base allow us to 'source materials locally,' quickly integrate resources to advance R&D, without needing to search far and wide for core technologies and components. Second, policy support to 'fly high.' A $150 million equity investment and comprehensive, thoughtful services throughout factory construction have thoroughly connected the entire chain from R&D to mass production. Third, the 'flight path' to 'fly far.' Its flying car 6S stores and flight camps have entered the substantive construction phase, using this as a starting point to bring Chinese flying car technology to the world." This also signifies that Guangdong, as a national leader in the low-altitude economy field, demonstrates continuous vitality in its low-altitude economy industry, with industrial economy and technological innovation mutually reinforcing each other, accelerating the construction of Guangdong's modern emerging industrial system. Today, the picture of coordinated development across the entire low-altitude economy industrial chain in the Greater Bay Area is becoming increasingly clear, ranging from the agglomeration of core components, to the gradual landing of commercial scenarios, and on to the scaled manufacturing of high-end equipment, as the low-altitude economy industry prepares for takeoff.