ARIDGE

Brand Overview

ARIDGE (XPeng AEROHT), headquartered in Guangzhou, is an ecosystem enterprise of XPeng Motors, officially established in 2020. Its predecessor was Huitian Technology Co., Ltd., founded by founder Zhao Deli in 2013, one of the earliest domestic enterprises focused on the research and development of low-altitude passenger-carrying aircraft. The company integrates smart cars and modern aviation technology to create safe smart electric flying cars for individual users, focusing on future urban air traffic, tourism and sightseeing, emergency rescue and other fields, providing products and solutions for urban three-dimensional traffic.

XPeng Aeroht is chaired by XPeng Motors Chairman He Xiaopeng, with Zhao Deli serving as President. The team size has exceeded 1,800 people, with R&D personnel accounting for over 80%, and master's and doctoral talents reaching over 40%. Cumulatively declared over 1,000 core patents, it is one of the largest flight car enterprises in Asia.After the merger in 2020, XPeng Motors opened core resources and talent systems to XPeng Aeroht. The early core team mostly came from the UC startup foundation. XPeng Motors also deployed senior designers who participated in the design of XPeng P7, achieving a deep integration of teams in the two fields of automobiles and aviation.

In terms of capital, XPeng Aeroht has completed multiple rounds of equity financing, including Series A (Sequoia China, Hillhouse, GGV Capstone, etc.), Series B and subsequent financing. The cumulative historical equity financing total is about $1 billion, making it the enterprise with the largest total financing in the Asian low-altitude passenger flight field.In January 2026, market news indicated that XPeng Aeroht has hired JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley as joint sponsors to submit a listing application to HKEX confidentially. The IPO could be completed as early as this year. If successful, it will become the second domestic passenger-carrying aircraft enterprise to list.In March 2026, the company completed another nearly $200 million in equity financing. Hillhouse Venture Capital, Sequoia China, etc., continued to increase investment after Series A financing.

In terms of international strategy, the company released the international new brand "ARIDGE" and a new brand Logo inspired by the Chinese character "Fly" in Dubai, UAE, in October 2025, marking its official launch of the global journey.

Development History

Early Stage: Huitian Technology and the Dream of Model Aircraft Set Sail (2013–2020) 

XPeng Aeroht's story can be traced back to 2013, when Zhao Deli founded Huitian Technology in Dongguan, Guangdong. Coming from a farmer's family and dropping out of high school, he invested all the more than 20 million yuan accumulated from running a restaurant and selling model aircraft, aiming at the research and development of low-altitude passenger-carrying aircraft.In 2016, Zhao Deli's savings were quickly exhausted. He borrowed loans from everywhere, and the team was left with only him and his nephew. "Don't learn from Zhao Deli to make aircraft," doubts and mockery kept pouring in. To keep the company alive, Zhao Deli traveled around television stations across the country, running around various variety show recording sites, earning performance fees and gaining exposure, just to prove to investors that flying cars are not empty talk.

The turning point appeared in 2020. In a simple industrial area in Dongguan, Zhao Deli took an important guest on a two-person flying motorcycle, flying for a few minutes at an altitude of 10 meters and landing smoothly. This guest was XPeng Motors Co-founder and CEO He Xiaopeng — shortly after, He Xiaopeng decided to invest in Zhao Deli's flying car company.

Merger and Platform Construction (2020–2021) 

In September 2020, XPeng Motors and Huitian Technology officially merged to establish XPeng Aeroht, with He Xiaopeng serving as Chairman and Zhao Deli as President. After the merger, XPeng Motors opened core resources and talent systems to XPeng Aeroht. Senior whole-vehicle management talents such as XPeng Motors' fourth employee Huang Jinteng joined successively, pushing the company to shift from early flying motorcycle research and development to flying car product development for the consumer market.

Technical Route Evolution and Product Definition (2021–2022) 

Early on, the company started with rotary-wing aircraft and verified pain points such as site dependence through test flights in multiple places, then turned to the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) technical route. In 2021, the company launched the Consumer-facing flying car project with internal code name X3. Initially, it adopted an integrated rotary-wing configuration, but problems such as excessive weight, insufficient range, high compliance risk, and difficulty in mass production were exposed during testing. At the end of 2022, the team officially adjusted the technical direction, abandoned the integrated solution, and turned to the separated "Land Aircraft Carrier" architecture, adopting the "ground vehicle body + aerial flight body" model to reduce engineering difficulty and focus on actionable technical paths.

Mass Production Sprint and International Expansion (2023–Present) 

In 2023, Traveler X2 became the first domestic manned eVTOL product to obtain a special flight certificate issued by the Civil Aviation Administration. In October 2025, XPeng Aeroht's flying car intelligent manufacturing base in Huangpu, Guangzhou was fully completed. This is the world's first flying car factory that achieves mass production using modern assembly lines. It has a planned annual capacity of 10,000 units. After reaching production capacity, one aircraft can be offloaded every 30 minutes.In November of the same year, the factory completed the trial production offloading of the first aircraft. As of March 2026, the factory has achieved batch trial production, and 5 "Land Aircraft Carrier" aircraft have successfully offloaded and started formation test flights, entering the pre-mass production verification stage.

Brand Matrix / Product Line

XPeng Aeroht adopts a "three-step" product development strategy. It has currently released two core products, building a diversified low-altitude travel system for different application scenarios.

Land Aircraft Carrier (Released 2023, Expected Delivery 2026) 

The brand's first mass-produced product, positioned as the world's first mass-produced split-style flying car, with a price controlled within 2 million yuan, mainly applied to flight experiences in restricted scenarios and public service fields.The product adopts a "land body + aircraft" split design, composed of a range-extender land body (land "mother ship") and a pure electric two-seater aircraft, achieving a unique experience of ground travel and aerial flight.

The land body is a three-axle, six-wheel, six-drive all-terrain large space model. The whole vehicle is about 5.5 meters long, 2 meters wide, and 2 meters high. It can freely enter and exit underground garages, easily park in standard parking spaces, and is driveable with a Class C license.Equipped with an all-domain 800V silicon carbide high-voltage range extender platform, the range exceeds 1,000 kilometers. It can charge the aircraft 5 to 6 times when driving and parking, solving the three major pain points of traditional aircraft: "difficult to move, difficult to store, difficult to refuel".

The aircraft has an electric six-rotor dual-ducted structure. The main body structure and propellers are made of carbon fiber material, balancing high strength and lightweight. It has a 270° panoramic two-seater cockpit, offering an open flight view.The aircraft has vertical takeoff and landing capabilities. It can be fully stored in the land body's trunk, supports one-click deployment and folding, and completes release or storage within 5 minutes.The aircraft supports manual and automatic dual driving modes. It pioneered a single-joystick control system, truly achieving one-hand flight control, greatly reducing the learning threshold.

A868 (Released 2025, In Development) 

The high-speed long-range eVTOL product in the second step of the brand's strategy. It adopts a full-tilt configuration, with a designed range greater than 500 kilometers and a designed maximum speed exceeding 360 km/h. The 6-seater cockpit design accurately meets business travel needs and is expected to solve air traffic problems in typical scenarios.

History Product: Traveler X2 

Early technology verification product, the first domestic manned eVTOL product to obtain a special flight certificate issued by the Civil Aviation Administration. It completed the world's first public flight in Dubai in 2022, accumulating valuable airworthiness experience and overseas market recognition foundation for the brand's subsequent products.

Future Planning: Integrated Flying Car 

According to the "three-step" strategy, the third step will launch a land-air integrated flying car, truly achieving door-to-door, point-to-point urban 3D three-dimensional traffic.

Market Performance

Pre-sale Orders 

After "Land Aircraft Carrier" opened pre-sales in 2024, order volume rapidly increased. As of the end of 2025, global orders exceeded 7,000 units, including the first batch of 600 units ordering agreements in the Middle East region, setting a record for the largest batch of overseas orders in the eVTOL field.

Revenue Expectations 

XPeng Aeroht founder and president Zhao Deli revealed that the company's expectation for revenue after landing is "planning to ship 10,000 units, revenue is expected to reach 10 to 20 billion yuan".Guangzhou Huangpu mass production factory plans an annual capacity of 10,000 units, initial capacity of 5,000 units. Under full production conditions, one aircraft can be offloaded every 30 minutes.

Flight Camp Construction 

To support the commercial landing of flying cars, XPeng Aeroht plans to build 200 flight camps by the end of 2025 and expand to over 500 in 2026.In February 2026, the country's first flight camp—Guangzhou Jiulong Lake Flight Camp officially opened and was put into use. It covers an area of about 20,000 square meters and has functions such as external display, flight experience, and test rides.In November 2025, XPeng Aeroht also landed the world's first flying car 6S store in Guangzhou University Town, integrating six core functions of display, sales, delivery, flight, training, and after-sales, building a "road-air integrated" full lifecycle service system.

Core Technology

Split-style Foldable Flying Car Architecture 

XPeng Aeroht abandoned the integrated flying car scheme and instead adopted a "land body + flight body" split design, which is its most recognizable technical route innovation. This architecture decouples the functions of ground travel and aerial flight, allowing the aircraft to be fully stored in the land body's trunk. The whole vehicle length is controlled within 5.5 meters, can park in a standard parking space, and is driveable with a Class C license.

World's First Automatic Split/Connect System 

"Land Aircraft Carrier" is equipped with the world's first vehicle-mounted automatic split/connect mechanism. Users can complete the automatic separation or connection of the land body and the aircraft with one click within 5 minutes, solving the problem of aircraft "difficulty in moving".

Carbon Fiber Lightweight Aircraft Structure 

The main body structure and propellers of the aircraft are made of carbon fiber material, achieving extreme lightweight while balancing high strength and safety, providing structural guarantee for the aircraft's efficient vertical takeoff and landing and longer flight time.

Six-Rotor Dual-Duct Design 

The aircraft adopts a six-rotor dual-ducted structure. The duct structure wraps the rotor, reducing the risk of ground personnel contact.Aircraft range is about 20 to 30 kilometers. Constrained by current battery energy density, it belongs to the best technical solution at the present stage.

Range Extender Land Body and Mobile Refueling

The land body adopts an all-domain 800V silicon carbide high-voltage range extender platform. CLTC range exceeds 1,000 kilometers. It can charge the aircraft 5 to 6 times, forming a "mobile energy station" function, solving the refueling anxiety of traditional pure electric aircraft.

First Single-joystick Control System 

The aircraft manual driving mode pioneers a single-joystick control system, allowing flight control with one hand. Unlike the complex control logic of traditional fixed-wing and helicopters using both hands and feet, it greatly reduces the user's learning threshold.The autonomous driving mode features intelligent route editing, one-click takeoff, 3D composite vision, landing view assistance, etc.

Intelligent Manufacturing Process Innovation 

Guangzhou Huangpu mass production factory has realized multiple industry-first manufacturing processes, including automatic riveting technology connecting workshops (production efficiency increased by 3 times), the world's first aircraft fuselage and parts mixed-line flexible high-automation spraying assembly line (delivery efficiency increased by 4 times), and cloud intelligent calibration testing technology (fully automatic completion of flight control navigation, weight center of gravity detection and calibration).

Overseas Layout

XPeng Aeroht's international layout takes the Middle East as the strategic starting point and is rapidly expanding globally.

Middle East Market 

In 2022, Traveler X2 completed the world's first public flight in Dubai, marking the brand's debut overseas. Since then, XPeng Aeroht has continued to deepen its low-altitude strategic cooperation with the UAE. In September 2025, it received a special flight certificate for manned aircraft in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, becoming the first Chinese flying car enterprise to obtain this certificate overseas.In October of the same year, XPeng Aeroht held the first international tasting event for "Land Aircraft Carrier" in Dubai, and signed ordering agreements for the first batch of 600 flying cars in the Middle East region with UAE Ali & Sons Group, Qatar Almana Group, Kuwait AlSayer Group, etc., setting a record for the largest batch of overseas orders in the eVTOL field.The company plans to start entering the Middle East market for local consumer sales from 2027 and gradually expand to other countries and regions.

New Brand "ARIDGE" and Global Positioning 

In October 2025, XPeng Aeroht released the international new brand "ARIDGE" and its all-new brand Logo. The brand logo is inspired by the Chinese character "Fly", completing the image leap from "Chinese Flying Car Enterprise" to "Global Low-Altitude Travel Brand".

Future Market Planning 

XPeng Aeroht plans to sequentially layout overseas markets such as Middle East, Brazil, New Zealand, etc., while continuously paying attention to North American market opportunities. Southeast Asian markets such as Indonesia and Malaysia are also under negotiation.According to Boston Consulting Group's forecast, the global manned eVTOL market size will reach $225 billion by 2040, and the Middle East region is expected to reach $11.7 billion.

Future Outlook

As of 2026, XPeng Aeroht is at a key turning point from the research and development verification stage to mass production delivery, and the future strategy focuses on the following three directions.

2026 Mass Production Delivery 

According to the plan, "Land Aircraft Carrier" will start mass delivery in the second half of 2026. Company founder Zhao Deli stated that it is expected to complete TC (Type Certificate) certification in the second half of the year, and mass production delivery will occur by the end of this year. At that time, flight camps will be opened successively, and car owners will be able to conduct test drives and test flights.Regarding airworthiness, the flight body type certificate application was accepted in March 2024, and the production license application was accepted in May 2025. Currently, it is at the key stage of approval.

Deepening the "Three-Step" Product Strategy 

Step 1: Rely on "Land Aircraft Carrier" to achieve mass production and sales, drive the construction of the low-altitude flight industry chain, and verify the business model of flying cars; Step 2: Launch high-speed long-range eVTOL product A868 to solve air traffic problems in typical scenarios, and jointly build diversified low-altitude application scenarios with "Land Aircraft Carrier"; Step 3: Launch land-air integrated flying car, truly achieving door-to-door, point-to-point urban 3D three-dimensional traffic.

Flight Camp and Ecosystem Construction 

Simply selling flying cars cannot form a business closed loop. XPeng Aeroht is simultaneously building a flight training system and flight camp network. It plans to build 200 flight camps by the end of 2025 and expand to over 500 in 2026.The brand positioning is transforming from "Aircraft Manufacturer" to "Low-Altitude Travel Solution Provider". Through the binding of "Hardware + Service", it strives to transform low-altitude flight from a niche extreme sport into a future lifestyle that the mass market can consume.

Challenges and Uncertainties 

XPeng Aeroht still needs to cross the legal rigid thresholds of airworthiness certification — Type Certificate, Production License, and Standard Airworthiness Certificate have not all been obtained.In addition, cost control, supporting infrastructure, user habit cultivation, and whether the IPO can be completed smoothly are also key variables determining its future development rhythm. From the lonely exploration of early model aircraft shops to the financing champion in the Asian flying car field and the upcoming mass production delivery, XPeng Aeroht has completed the breakthrough from 0 to 1, and subsequently needs to face the comprehensive test from 1 to N.