First commercial flying car up for preorder at $399,000!

The flying car has moved on from the realm of science fiction, cartoons and movies and is finally here.

Five years after Dutch company PAL-V demonstrated the first successful test flight of the vehicle, it has now opened preorders for the Liberty flying car.

This is the first flying car to be sold commercially and is equipped with two engines, one each for driving on the ground and flying in the air, Tech Times reported earlier this month.

Both engines are supplied by Rotax, an aircraft engine manufacturer based in Austria.

According to the Tech Times, Liberty, while on the ground, takes on the form of an enclose three-wheel vehicle capable of going 817 miles on a full tank, with a propeller that is packed tightly to its roof. To take flight, the Liberty's propeller and tail blades expand, transforming the vehicle into a gyrocopter.

The conversion from a car to a gyrocopter is mostly done through the Liberty's Semi-Automatic Conversion System.  

The driver, however, will need to manually unfold the vehicle's propeller, tail, and rotor blade.

The Liberty does not come cheap. There are two models for the flying car, namely the $399,000 Sport base model and the $599,000 premium Pioneer model, reports Tech Times.

Source: Tech Times