Last week Toyota Ventures announced an additional $500m vote of confidence in Joby Aviation, bringing their total investment in the Californian electric aircraft company to $894m. The AAM industry can learn valuable lessons from automotive leaders about scaling reliable production, so it’s no surprise to see a smattering of partnerships across the industry:

Toyota & Joby

This partnership also involves guidance on manufacturing processes at Joby's production facility, focusing on efficiency and production at scale​, along with supply of key powertrain and actuation components.1

Joby’s eVTOL in Toyota livery (Image: Joby Aviation)

Stellantis & Archer

In July this year Stellantis, the worlds 5th largest automaker, invested another $55m into Archer as they progress with certification of their 5-seater eVTOL, Midnight.2

Porsche Consulting & EVE

Porsche Consulting is working with EVE Air Mobility (a subsidiary of Embraer) to optimise manufacturing and supply chain processes.3 Andrew Stein, CEO of EVE commented:

“The partnership is designed to address scalability and distributed production. The UAM ecosystem is quickly evolving, and we can only achieve our goal if we spark enthusiasm for new ideas in manufacturing and supply chain areas.”

DENSO & Lilium

The news release on 13.11.2023 announced that DENSO will support Lilium “in developing equipment and tooling for an efficient, scalable production ramp-up and preparing automation for high-volume production of the Lilium Jet engine and its subsystems.”4

Geely, Daimler & Volocopter

Volocopter has received investment from both Geely, the Hangzhou-headquartered automotive conglomerate, and Mercedes-Benz Group, as they look to certify their VoloCity eVTOL in the coming months.5

Suzuki & SkyDrive

In 2024 SkyDrive Inc., a leading Japanese eVTOL aircraft manufacturer, announced the start of production of its aircraft at Suzuki’s manufacturing plant in Iwata-city, Shizuoka, Japan.6

Hyundai & Supernal

Being part of Hyundai Motor Group, Supernal benefits from a particularly close relationship with the South Korean automotive leader7. Jaiwon Shin, president of Hyundai Motor Group and CEO of Supernal noted:

“By leveraging our talented 600-person team, the vast technical and business capabilities of Hyundai Motor Group and trusted aviation suppliers around the world, Supernal is ready to deliver a new era of flight.”

1 Toyota To Invest $500 Million in Joby Aviation

2 Stellantis Invests Additional $55 Million In Archer Following Recent Flight Test Milestone

3 Eve partners with Porsche Consulting to define eVTOL global manufacturing, logistics and supply chain strategy

4 Lilium Partners With Industrial Leader DENSO to Prepare Production Ramp-Up of the Lilium Jet’s Innovative Electric Engine

5 Volocopter and Geely Joint Venture Orders 150 Volocopter Aircraft

6 SkyDrive Begins Production of Revolutionary eVTOL Aircraft with Suzuki

7 Supernal Debuts eVTOL Product Concept at CES 2024

ATA is a global specialist in insurance for advanced technologies across the aerospace, defence, energy, industrial, transportation, and technology sectors.

Welcome to ATA →
Explore our Insurance Products →
Contact an Underwriter →

atains.com