World's first flying car set for lift-off next month

London, Jan 11 (ANI): The Terrafugia Transition, which can transform itself from a two-seater road car to a plane in 15 seconds, is scheduled to take to the air next month.

If it survives its first test flight, the technological breakthrough, is expected to land in showrooms in about 18 months' time.

Its manufacturer says it is easy to keep and run since it uses normal unleaded fuel and will fit into a garage, reports TimesOnline.

Carl Dietrich, who runs the Massachusetts-based Terrafugia, said: "This is the first really integrated design where the wings fold up automatically and all the parts are in one vehicle."

The Transition has been developed by former Nasa engineers and is powered by the same 100bhp engine on the ground and in the air.

Terrafugia claims it will be able to fly up to 500 miles on a single tank of petrol at a cruising speed of 115mph.

However, up to now it has been tested only on roads at up to 90mph.

Dietrich said he had already received 40 orders, despite an expected retail price of 200,000 dollars.

"For an airplane that's very reasonable, but for a car that's very much at the high end," he conceded.(ANI)