A report from McKinsey consultants points out that of the twenty billion dollars spent by airlines on flying taxis this year, a quarter represents options while the remainder include any number of opt-outs. Furthermore, practically none include a deposit. All of this on the cusp of an era when we're likely to be returned by the climate to the sort of city-states around which people could only walk, whenever they weren't sailing.
It happened before with tulips, except that to the best of my knowledge the tulips did actually exist, as opposed to appearing solely in CGI format. Here in the UK Vertical for instance built and crashed a prototype before realising that the easier way of raising investment is rendering an image at which they promise to throw money, so long as everyone else does... which they have.
Accordingly I've skipped even the CAD/CAM render in favour of borrowing one from the internet, to unveil it with some aplomb:
The revolutionary Chitt-E flying car comes with retractable airfoils supporting hand-crafted beech propellers to wisk you clear of the traffic jams caused by those queuing for petrol. It sports eco-friendly wooden-spoked wheels, and brightly-coloured doped canvas wings selected from a sweat-shop in India. Ample accommodation includes space for a pilot and co-pilot as well as three-row seating behind, and a jump-seat for observers. Bonnets are not provided, and deposits are offered for as little as a million dollars in cash.
