Chinese electric-vehicle maker Xpeng plans to mass produce flying cars by 2024 and says they'll cost less than $157,000

• Chinese electric vehicle-maker Xpeng is planning to mass produce a flying car by 2024.
• The flying car is being developed by Xpeng affiliate, HT Aero.

Chinese electric-vehicle startup Xpeng introduced a flying car over the weekend, which the company says it plans to mass produce by 2024.

The Xpeng X2 vehicle is being developed by affiliate HT Aero, a flying car startup, which raised over $500 million in its latest funding round last week.

The low-altitude flying car has a steering wheel for driving on roads as well as a single lever for flight modes, according to TechCrunch.

According to a Xpeng website post, the X2 features rotors that can be folded away when the car is operating on roads and expanded when the vehicle is flying. It can seat two people. Xpeng is touting the flying car for use in urban settings, like going from the airport to the office. The vehicle has a maximum flight time of 35 minutes.

The NYSE-listed electric-vehicle maker plans to sell the car at a price point below 1 million Chinese yuan ($157,000), according to Techcrunch, citing CEO He Xiaopeng.

Also known as electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles, such air taxis are not commercially available yet, but a study released in July by credit broker Pentagon Motor Group estimated the first flying cars would cost more than £535,831 ($738,000).

Flying cars have captured the attention of vehicle makers and investors, with giants like General Motors, Toyota, and Hyundai among those in the race. But even as more companies turn their attention to flying cars, challenges remain, including battery technology and safety standards, Insider's Eric Adams reported in January.

Xpeng, which is one of Tesla's closest rivals in China, released an electric sedan earlier this year that undercut Tesla's pricing by more than a third. The Chinese company has been recording record growth in China this year: It said it delivered more than 30,00 vehicles in the first half of 2021, a year-over-year increase of 459%.