- Germany’s Volocopter teams up with Geely Holding Group to establish a joint venture in Chengdu, China.
- The joint venture will take charge of production and market operation of Volocopter products in the Chinese market.
- The joint venture plans to help promote urban air mobility in China in the coming three to five years.
A new joint aircraft company, named Volocopter (Chengdu) Technology Co., Ltd., or Volocopter Chengdu for short, has been announced by Germany’s Volocopter, a specialist in the manufacture of autonomous air vehicles, and a second-tier subsidiary of Geely Holding Group.
The joint venture will be located in Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province, and will take charge of production and market operation of Volocopter products in the Chinese market.
Volocopter Chengdu also signed orders with Volocopter for 150 aircraft, including logistics unmanned aerial vehicles and manned aircraft.
Air vehicles and their parts will be produced in Hubei Geely Terrafugia, a manufacturing base of Geely in China, according to the joint venture.
Volocopter Chengdu will also attend the 13th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition (Airshow China) on September 28.
“Today marks another important milestone on our journey to bring affordable electric air mobility to China, the biggest single market opportunity for the UAM industry,” said Florian Reuter, CEO of Volocopter.
UAM refers to a new mode of urban transportation that uses electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to move people or goods within lower urban and suburban airspaces. It helps relieve the strain on increasingly congested city roads and allows people and goods to reach their destinations faster and more safely.
Volocopter is currently the world’s first and only eVTOL aircraft manufacturer that has obtained design and production approval from European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
