After announcing the first flight of the Switchblade flying car in November 2023, Samson Sky moved into the next phase – production engineering. The company says that its efforts have yielded tremendous results, and it is now sharing the enhanced body design for what will be its production vehicles. "The new design improves performance and shortens the pathway to production by transferring much of what worked well in the test vehicle that flew, into the new streamlined design," says Sam Bousfield, Samson Sky CEO and designer of the Switchblade, citing that the new design is simpler and much easier to build.

"Everything we do is with the mindset of how we are going to produce thousands of Switchblades, to meet the incredible demand we have," adds Bousfield. Samson officials stated that the company's existing Reservations represent a potential sales value of over $450m. It has Reservation Holders from 57 countries, and all 50 U.S. states.

The company reported that they validated many key parameters during flight testing and the new design elevates the Switchblade to the next level. "Many people don't know that a company developing a brand-new aircraft never goes into production with their initial design," states Bousfield. "There are always changes and modifications based on things learned from flight testing, and we've used these to improve even more on our original design, while keeping our signature swinging wings that tuck away completely inside the vehicle when driving."

The website describes the Switchblade as a high-performance vehicle, both on the road and in the air. The test vehicle that flew in 2023 achieved the target of 125 mph in ground testing, and company officials say they made these design changes to achieve the flying cruise speed target.

According to Bousfield, wind tunnel testing in May validated that the new design with the sleeker body and thruster propellers will allow Samson to meet the target of 160mph flying cruise speed. He explains that this gives Samson the green light on moving ahead with the enhanced body design. The wind tunnel provides real-world data and can get within 3% of 'actual' performance.

Samson is building three test vehicles over the next 18 months to be used for intensive testing on every aspect of the vehicle, both flying and driving.

The Switchblade Flying Sports Car is a street-legal, hybrid electric vehicle that is high-performance both on the road and in the air. You park the Switchblade in your garage, and drive it from there to a nearby airport. Once there, the wings swing out and the tail extends in under three minutes. You fly your registered aircraft to the airport nearest your destination, then simply land, transform back to driving mode – the wings and tail safely stowed and protected – and drive the last few miles to your destination. The Switchblade seats two, side-by-side, with room for travel bags, and flies up to 500 miles on a single tank of premium auto gas.