China's Geely Acquires American Builder of Flying Cars Terrafugia +VIDEO
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By Henny Hemmes
Senior European editor
The Auto Channel
The Hague, November 13, 2017; People may dream of flying cars, especially when they are stuck in a traffic jam. Now, there are companies trying to fulfill their wishes. One of them is PAL-V., a Dutch company that had its design model unveiled by Prince Albert of Monaco during The Top Marques Supercar Show and that recently started the sales of its commercial models for delivery by the end of next year.
By then, PAL-V will have to face serious competition, from an American company that is going to be part of a huge Chinese car manufacturer.
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Today, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, owner of Volvo Car, announced that it has reached an agreement with Terrafugia Inc. to acquire the activities and assets of the US company. Terrafugia focuses on engineering, innovation and production of flying cars and on future technologies.
In anticipation of this transaction, the Company’s team of engineers has tripled over the past three months with Geely Holding's approval and with Geely being fully committed to investing further in the company and creating additional jobs after completion of the acquisition.
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Zhejiang Geely Holding Group founder and chairman Li Shufu said in a statement that the Terrafugia team is convinced that the vision for a flying car will be realized and that the ultimate mobility solution will be created.
"This is an extremely exciting sector and we believe Terrafugia is ideally positioned to change the mobility as we currently understand it and(we) herald the development of a new industry in doing so. We are committed to extend our full support to Terrafugia, leveraging the synergies provided by our international operations and our state track record of innovation to make the flying car a reality.
Under the terms of the agreement, Terrafugia will remain based in its Boston, MA, headquarters and will continue to focus on its current mission to develop flying cars. Of course, Terrafugia will benefit from the expertise and success in the automotive industry of the Geely Group.
The deal has been approved by all relevant regulatory authorities, including the United States Committee on Foreign Investment (CIFIUS).
Terrafugia was founded in 2005 by five award-winning graduate engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The company has made considerable progress in realizing its vision for a new form of mobility and has built a number of working prototypes.
Terrafugia strives to market the first flying car in the world with the Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) in 2019.
