Terrafugia unveils second generation flying car

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WOBURN, Mass., May 7 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts aerospace company has unveiled its second generation flying car, even though it has yet to deliver any of it first generation vehicles.

The firm, Terrafugia, however, has to be taken seriously, said Roadable Times editor John Brown, because "They have a track record of doing what they say," he said.

The firm has more than 100 orders for its first flying car -- or, put another way, it's first road-worthy airplane.

USA Today reported Tuesday that the first Terrafugia multi-medium vehicle is called the Transition and has a sticker price of $279,000.

The Transition has folding wings that, when unfolded, allow the car to take off using a runway, like an airplane. The next generation, however, will have tilt-rotor technology that would allow the car to lift off like a helicopter, the newspaper said.

Propellers would give it a nearly vertical lift-off. Those propellers would then rotate, turning the car into a prop-driven airplane.

That would be, essentially, three or maybe four vehicles in one. The TF-X, as it is called, would not just be a car and a plane, but a car-plane-helicopter-hovercraft.

"We felt this was our time to share our vision of the future," said Richard Gersh, vice president of Terrafugia.

Gersh says deliveries are not around the corner, but "if you don't start today, it won't happen."