Stellantis announced a deal with air taxi startup Archer to mass-produce the company’s electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles. The deal, which was announced during CES at Las Vegas, designates Stellantis as the exclusive contract manufacturer for Archer’s Midnight eVTOL aircraft. As part of the deal, Stellantis will provide $150 million in equity capital for Archer to use “at its discretion” in 2023 and 2024, Archer said.
The type of aircraft Archer is developing is typically called a “flying car,” though they rarely resemble actual cars. They are electric powered, able to carry only a handful of passengers, and intended for short flights within a city or regionally. Using tilt-rotors, Midnight is designed to take off and land vertically like a helicopter and then transition into forward flight like a plane.