California air taxi developer Archer Aviation announced the reinforcement of its relationship with European automotive giant Stellantis at the opening of the Paris Airshow today, notably the tightening of their financial ties and increasing of their production plans for the Midnight electric takeoff and landing aircraft.
On the manufacturing side, Archer said work that began in March on its future Midnight air taxi manufacturing site in Georgia had progressed to the point where now it foresees bringing it online sometime in 2024. The facility, whose production assets will be set up and overseen by Stellantis – the maker of Chrysler, Peugeot, Fiat, and other European car brands – will initially turn out up to 650 aircraft per year.
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The 100-acre plant campus about 35 miles southeast of Atlanta has additional room to expand annual output to 2,300, the companies said from the Paris Airshow, as DroneDJ’s sister site Electrek also reported.
The partners also revealed Stellantis had recently increased its shareholding stake in Archer through a succession of stock purchases on the open market. Earlier this year the car maker had committed $150 million in capital to the air taxi company over the next two years, as it continues efforts to obtain Federal Aviation Administration certification of Midnight ahead of a planned 2025 service launch.
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The moves are an indication Archer not only seeks to be one of the very first air taxi companies taking its battery powered plane to market, but through its manufacturing activities with Stellantis also aims to provide Midnight with one of the world’s largest production capabilities of next generation aircraft.
“At Archer, our goal is not just to get to commercialization, but to achieve it at scale,” said Archer CEO Adam Goldstein. “High-volume manufacturing is critical to ensuring we can meet this goal and joining forces with one of the leading mobility companies in the world is helping us realize the once-in-a-generation opportunity we have to redefine urban transportation. I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve already accomplished with this partnership as we continue to lead the industry in building out manufacturing capabilities.”
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Despite the ground-breaking of the Georgia plant just three months ago, the companies already have staff present on the site working together to prepare the planned launch of production in just a year from now.
“The Stellantis and Archer teams are moving full speed ahead in execution mode to ensure we meet our goal of bringing scalable manufacturing of Archer’s aircraft online in mid-2024,” said Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares. “We believe this unique partnership is setting the standard for cross-industry collaboration and continues to be a key pillar of our strategy to ensure Stellantis leads the way the world moves, providing freedom of mobility in all ways. With our trusted teams onsite working shoulder-to-shoulder with Archer, I have no doubt that we are on the right path.”
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