(Reuters) -Carmaker Stellantis will invest another $55 million in Archer Aviation after the air taxi maker’s flagship aircraft completed a transition flight last month, the companies said on Tuesday.
The latest investment follows the automaker’s open market purchases of 8.3 million Archer shares in March, which made Stellantis the largest shareholder in the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) maker, according to LSEG data .
Stellantis also invested $110 million in Archer last year through a combination of open market share purchases and a financing agreement between the two companies.
Archer’s “Midnight” eVTOL has reached a milestone after completing a transition flight last month.
A transition flight occurs when an aircraft takes off vertically like a helicopter, accelerates forward, transitions from thrust flight to wing flight before decelerating and landing vertically.
Archer shares rose 9% in early U.S. trading. But shares are down 44.3% so far this year.
(Reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
