Samson Sky has secured an $80 million investment from Dubai-based Matin Group to help move its Switchblade flying car toward production in the United States. The company still needs to raise an additional $20 million to fully fund its current production plan, but the new backing marks a significant step forward for a vehicle that has been in development for years.
The Switchblade is designed to drive on public roads like a conventional car and then transform into an aircraft at a nearby airport. In driving mode, its wings, tail and propeller are fully enclosed inside the body. When the driver reaches an airport, the wings extend and the tail moves into position for flight. Samson says the transformation takes about three minutes. After landing, the process reverses and the flight hardware folds back inside before the driver continues by road.
That design change is a major departure from the earlier prototype that completed its first flight on Nov. 5, 2023, from Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake, Washington. Since then, Samson has continued refining the version it hopes to deliver to customers, including increasing the size of the engine. The company plans to use three production prototypes for further testing around the end of 2026 or the beginning of 2027.
The Switchblade uses a hybrid-electric drivetrain. A gasoline engine powers a generator that supplies electricity to the vehicle's motors, which drive the wheels on the ground and the propellers in flight. Samson lists a 44-gallon fuel capacity and says the vehicle runs on 91-octane automotive gasoline. The company currently targets a maximum airspeed of 190 mph, a maximum flying range of 450 miles, a maximum road speed of 100 mph and a cruise speed of 160 mph. However, its FAQ notes that the cruise speed figure still needs verification during production-prototype flight testing.
The new investment will help establish Samson's first 180,000-square-foot Switchblade production facility in the U.S. The company signed a Joint Investment Agreement with Matin Group, and the two have started setting up a joint venture. The factory location remains undecided. Samson Sky CEO and founder Sam Bousfield said the search has narrowed considerably. «We will maintain our Samson Sky R&D Facility in Prineville, OR, and we have narrowed down the US production facility to three potential locations in different parts of the country, with some negotiations already begun,» Bousfield said. The company has not identified those locations publicly.
Samson's current timeline points to summer 2027, when it expects its Builder Assist assembly line to be ready. The first year of production will focus mostly on customers who previously paid for some of the earliest delivery positions, followed by depositors and reservation holders. The Switchblade VFR kit is estimated to start at $200,000, while the IFR version carries an estimated price of $235,000. Those prices can still change before customer production gets underway.
Bousfield said reaching this point has been part of the company's plan for years. «It's been great developing the technology for a flying car that you park in your garage and is high performance in both modes,» he said. «Now we get to put it out for people to use and explore the world around them.»