XPeng’s Founder Says Its Flying Cars Will Be In the Air By 2026
Electri-flying updates from XPeng at IAA Munich 2025.
Edward LohWriterSep 08, 2025
XPeng P7 Munich IAA 2025 4
While Chinese EV maker Xpeng had its bright yellow sports sedan, dubbed “The Next P7,” as the centerpiece of its booth, it kicked off its IAA Munich 2025 press conference with a sprawling, Euro-centric business update.
Founded in Guangzhou, China in 2014, XPeng made its European debut in 2021. The company says it has since tripled its exports and now sells vehicles in 46 countries. Per vice chairman and president, Brian Gu, Xpeng has delivered 271,615 vehicles through August of this year, which represents a 252 percent increase over the same period in 2024. At this rate, Gu says Xpeng will be profitable by the fourth quarter of 2025.
What’s Next?
XPeng P7 Brian Gu Munich IAA 2025 1
With all this growth, what’s next? More growth, it seems. Volkswagen and Xpeng already have partnership in which China-market VWs will run Xpeng’s electrical and electronics (E/E) architecture. This partnership was recently expanded to include plug-in hybrid and internal combustions vehicles as well. The big question is whether this partnership will go beyond China-market vehicles.
Robotaxi to Autonomous Driving Rollout
Given that it’s been a leader in autonomous driving technologies, it’s no surprise that the development of self-driving cars is in full swing at XPeng, as evidenced by a video clip of newly built XPeng vehicles driving themselves from a factory production line to an outdoor delivery area. According to company founder, He Xiaopeng, Xpeng plans to start robotaxi trials for “mass-produced L4 vehicles” in China sometime in 2026.
The same technology driving Xpeng’s robotaxi is planned for a rollout in its full lineup globally by the fourth quarter of 2026.
“The Next P7”
XPeng P7 Munich IAA 2025 1
When it came to brag about the second-generation flagship P7 sedan, founder He led with a shortlist of its most impressive performance numbers:
0-62 mph in 3.7 seconds
Top speed of 143 mph (230 kmh)
Maximum horsepower of 585 hp (593 ps)
Max torque of 438 ft-lbs (695N-m)
Solid numbers for any sports car, but nothing mindblowing, until you consider XPeng’s other claim that the new P7 set the global distance record for mass-produced EVs.
As a testament to the efficiency, battery capacity, range, and charging speed of its vehicles, XPeng claims its P7 drove 2,461 miles in 24 hours, finishing ahead of rivals Xiaomi YU7 (2,450 miles), Mercedes-Benz CLA (2,310 miles), and Porsche Taycan (2,128 miles).
Flying Cars by Late 2026
Xpeng Aeroht Land Aircraft Carrier 10
And finally, XPeng continues to be bullish on flying cars, claiming they will be 20 percent of the global automotive market share in 20 years. To this end, XPeng claims to have spent some $600 million over the last 12 years in R&D to produce seven generations of flying car prototypes. The result of all this work is the AEROHT “Land Aircraft Carrier,” which has apparently received more than 6,000 customer orders. This “world’s-first modular-flying-car” will make its debut and maiden overseas flight in Dubai in October of 2025. Customer deliveries are scheduled to start in late 2026, according to He. And once those are complete, XPeng claims it will be the world’s largest flying car company.
We shall see…
Edward Loh
I used to go kick tires with my dad at local car dealerships. I was the kid quizzing the sales guys on horsepower and 0-60 times, while Dad wandered around undisturbed. When the salesmen finally cornered him, I’d grab as much of the glossy product literature as I could carry. One that still stands out to this day: the beautiful booklet on the Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX that favorably compared it to the Porsches of the era. I would pore over the prose, pictures, specs, trim levels, even the fine print, never once thinking that I might someday be responsible for the asterisked figures “*as tested by Motor Trend magazine.” My parents, immigrants from Hong Kong, worked their way from St. Louis, Missouri (where I was born) to sunny Camarillo, California, in the early 1970s. Along the way, Dad managed to get us into some interesting, iconic family vehicles, including a 1973 Super Beetle (first year of the curved windshield!), 1976 Volvo 240, the 1977 Chevrolet Caprice Classic station wagon, and 1984 VW Vanagon. Dad imbued a love of sports cars and fast sedans as well. I remember sitting on the package shelf of his 1981 Mazda RX-7, listening to him explain to my Mom – for Nth time – what made the rotary engine so special. I remember bracing myself for the laggy whoosh of his turbo diesel Mercedes-Benz 300D, and later, his ’87 Porsche Turbo. We were a Toyota family in my coming-of-age years. At 15 years and 6 months, I scored 100 percent on my driving license test, behind the wheel of Mom’s 1991 Toyota Previa. As a reward, I was handed the keys to my brother’s 1986 Celica GT-S. Six months and three speeding tickets later, I was booted off the family insurance policy and into a 1983 Toyota 4×4 (Hilux, baby). It took me through the rest of college and most of my time at USC, where I worked for the Daily Trojan newspaper and graduated with a biology degree and business minor. Cars took a back seat during my stint as a science teacher for Teach for America. I considered a third year of teaching high school science, coaching volleyball, and helping out with the newspaper and yearbook, but after two years of telling teenagers to follow their dreams, when I wasn’t following mine, I decided to pursue a career in freelance photography. After starving for 6 months, I was picked up by a tiny tuning magazine in Orange County that was covering “The Fast and the Furious” subculture years before it went mainstream. I went from photographer-for-hire to editor-in-chief in three years, and rewarded myself with a clapped-out 1989 Nissan 240SX. I subsequently picked up a 1985 Toyota Land Cruiser (FJ60) to haul parts and camera gear. Both vehicles took me to a more mainstream car magazine, where I first sipped from the firehose of press cars. Soon after, the Land Cruiser was abandoned. After a short stint there, I became editor-in-chief of the now-defunct Sport Compact Car just after turning 30. My editorial director at the time was some long-haired dude with a funny accent named Angus MacKenzie. After 18 months learning from the best, Angus asked me to join Motor Trend as senior editor. That was in 2007, and I’ve loved every second ever since.
