Flying cars collide at Chinese air show, one crashes and bursts into flames

Two Chinese flying cars collided in the air on Tuesday, September 16, during a rehearsal flight for an air show.

Published on: Sep 17, 2025, 10:54:06 IST

By Sanya Jain

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Two Chinese flying cars collided in the air on Tuesday, September 16, during a rehearsal flight for an air show. Both the flying cars belonged to a unit of Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Xpeng Inc.

An image showing an eVOTL from Xpeng Aeroht (X/Xpeng Aeroht )

According to a Global Times report, Xpeng Aeroht confirmed on Tuesday that two of its electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles "made contact" during the rehearsal flight. One of the vehicles caught fire after crashing to the ground.

Xpeng Aeroht is the flying car unit of Xpeng that was founded in 2013.

Xpeng eVTOL crash

The incident occurred on Tuesday afternoon following a flying demonstration by Guangdong Xpeng Aeroht General Aviation at the Changchun Air Show, the company told the Global Times in a statement.

The Changchun Air Show 2025 will start on September 19. However, two Xpeng Aeroht eVTOLs were engaged in a rehearsal flight on September 16 when they collided.

The company said they were practicing a formation flight when insufficient spacing led to the collision.

One of the flying cars managed to land safely. However, the other suffered fuselage damage and caught fire upon landing.

Visuals shared online show fire engines at the site trying to extinguish the flames.

Xpeng said there were no injuries. "All personnel at the scene are safe, and relevant departments have handled the situation in an orderly manner," the company said in its statement to Global Times, adding that the cause of the incident is still under investigation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sanya Jain
Sanya Jain is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times Digital. She has nearly a decade of experience in covering offbeat stories that speak to the everyday experience - from viral videos to human interest copies that spark conversation. Her interests stretch across business, pop culture, social media trends, entertainment and global affairs. Before joining Hindustan Times, Sanya spent two years with Moneycontrol and five years with NDTV. She holds an undergraduate degree in English literature from St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and a master’s in journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications, Mumbai. Sanya has a sharp eye for spotting emerging trends and looking for newsworthy angles to elevate viral posts into meaningful narratives. She was the first one, for example, to cover Narayana Murthy’s remark on 70-hour work weeks that sparked a national conversation. She is equally at ease writing about business leaders as about the common man, about issues of national importance and memes that amuse social media. Sanya enjoys speaking with content creators, newsmakers and entrepreneurs to transform everyday moments into engaging, slice-of-life stories that resonate with readers. When she is not working, Sanya can be found curled up with a good book. Born and raised in Lucknow, she has spent the last several years in Delhi. She is deeply interested in animal welfare and now spends a lot of her time running after her destructive orange cat.Read More

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