Is it a car..i.s it a plane?

A small start-up outside Boston plans to give new meaning to the term "fly drive". Terrafugia (from the Latin for "escape from the earth") is preparing to build the first prototype of its Transition vehicle - a light sports plane that can fold up its wings to become a car.

At the touch of a button the Transition from Terrafugia four-wheeled car extends a pair of wings either side of its main body.

Chief operating officer, Anna Mracek Dietrich, said: "It will take just a few seconds to transform and will be fully automated after the command is given in the cockpit. We're currently sold out for at least the first year, approaching the first two of production".

The Transition will use low-cost electronics and feature GPS and auto-pilot weather radar.

The prototype, which runs on super unleaded petrol, cruises at 120mph and lands at 65mph.

The estimated hourly fuel burn of four gallons equates to 30mpg in flight.

via Ananova and Monocle