Soon, buy a car that turns into a plane in seconds

Melbourne: Can't afford the luxury of a private jet? Don't worry, as a US aeronautical company has developed a flying car that transforms into a plane in just 20 seconds.

Funded by the US Department of Defense, the 'Transition' is a four-wheel vehicle, licensed for the road, which transforms into a plane in about 20 seconds and can then fly up to 500 miles.

The starting price of the car is USD 279,000, slightly less than the cheapest conventional two-seater aircraft and about the same as a supercar such as a Ferrari,'the Age' reported.

The four-wheel vehicle 'Transition' is funded by the US Department of Defense.

"People tend to smirk when you say you're trying to make a flying car," Carl Dietrich, the Transition's inventor, said. "But we're very serious about producing a flying car and selling it," he said.

It sounds like something from the wildest fringes of fantasy. An owner could take off from Edinburgh, for example, fly to London, fold up the wings, drive home and park in the garage, the report said.

Dietrich began developing Transition in 2006 at his company headquarters in Terrafugia, near Woburn, Massachusetts.

The first test flights took place in New York in 2009 and Dietrich expects to deliver a finished product to his first 10 customers by next year, with production "ramping up" in 2014.

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