Stellantis invests additional $55 million in air taxi maker Archer

(Reuters) -Automaker Stellantis will invest an additional $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 shares of Archer's stock in March, which made Stellantis the largest shareholder in the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) maker, according to LSEG data.

Stellantis had also invested $110 million in Archer last year through a combination of open market stock purchases and a funding agreement between the two companies.

Archer's "Midnight" eVTOL achieved a milestone after it completed a transition flight last month.

A transition flight occurs when an aircraft takes off vertically like a helicopter, accelerates forward, transitions from thrust-borne to wing-borne flight before decelerating and landing vertically.

Shares of Archer rose 9% in early U.S. trading. But the stock is down 44.3% so far this year.

(Reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)