Layoffs Reported At Terrafugia

Flying car maker Terrafugia has laid off the majority of its employees at the company headquarters in Woburn, Massachusetts, according to a report from Forbes on Tuesday. Between 80 and 100 people are believed to have been affected. It has also been reported that Terrafugia, which was sold to Chinese conglomerate Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in July 2017, plans to close down operations in the U.S. later this year in favor of moving to China.

So far, Terrafugia has refused to comment on either the layoffs or its plans for future operations. As previously reported by AVweb, the company received a Special Light-Sport Aircraft (SLSA) airworthiness certificate from the FAA for its two-seat Transition roadable aircraft last month. At the time, Terrafugia stated that it was aiming to have it the vehicle both sky- and road-legal by 2022.

Terrafugia was founded in 2006 by a group of five Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduates led by former CEO Carl Dietrich, who left the company in 2019. The Transition prototype flew for the first time in March 2009.