Based in Melbourne, Australia – but clearly also with a presence in China – Pegasus is now moving its head office and production facilities to Las Vegas. The company says it's been working on its flying car design since 2009. Indeed, the project looks well advanced, and the company's naked early prototypes, first flown around 2016, have long since given way to the handsome, fully-enclosed Pegasus E, which made its debut in 2021.

Effectively, it's a small, single-seat helicopter with automatic quick-fold rotor blades, with a bare-bones open-wheel vehicle chassis grafted on, using carbon fiber rods. It's not precisely clear exactly where the electric part of the hybrid drive system comes in, but the combustion power appears to come from a lightweight, buzzy "Pegasus 800" two-stroke, making around 160 horsepower.

Before we get any further, you have to see this frankly insane "only in China" urban flight test footage, shot in what appears to be a deserted industrial estate.

Pegasus gives a dry weight of 265 kg (585 lb), so it won't qualify as an ultralight. But on a full 60-liter (16-gal) tank, it'll fly with a useful payload of 101 kg (222 lb), at speeds up to 160 km/h (100 mph) and altitudes up to 1,800 m (5,900 ft) – and its 3-hour, 420-km (261-mile) range is a lot more than fully-electric eVTOLs can currently deliver.

On the road, despite its tiny wheels, the Pegasus E can handle highway speeds, although there's an electronic limiter preventing it going any faster than 120 km/h (75 mph). Its compact size allows it to fit into standard garages, as well as regular size parking spots, ticking a couple of boxes for practicality.

And when we say it handles like a go-kart ... Well, look at this thing getting a proper wheel-up, sideways flogging on an actual go-kart track, complete with a Victoria Police paint job. Honestly, it looks like way too much fun.