Where to start?
@PaulW: Eight minutes is the duration of the test flight _NOT_ the endurance. An aircraft with 8 minutes endurance would never be legal, as you need 30 mins fuel/endurance in reserve on top of your anticipated fuel for the journey before taking off for a VFR Flight (and Light Sport Aircraft are all VFR only) or you are breaking the law.
@AC 16:18: Agreed, TB10's are quite fragile, what with being made by the French out of wafer thin aluminum and all. At least if you prang a transition you can most likely still drive it home - if you make a boo-boo with the Socata you're stuck at some remote airfield, either at the mercy of the resident maintainence contractors (if there are any) or facing a huge bill for de-rigging (can you even take the wings off without killing it?) and transportation back to your preferred CAMO. Of course the transition is also built of gel-coated composites, so will have a much better tolerance for minor dings/scrapes than the TB10. The usage case also makes a lot more sense in the USA where it is quite common for light aircraft owners to use them for business travel for intermediate length (300-500 miles or so) journeys. I'm guessing you live in the UK and mainly use your A/C for bacon butty runs/bimbling rather than serious travel?
@Bruceld:So how exactly does being roadable make it easier for terrorists than using any other existing light aircraft?
@Ian McNee: Yep the thought of this terrifies me too. Luckily the level of intelligence/effort involved in learning to fly tends to filter out the kind of numpty who would think to try this.
@Aaron Em: I'm pretty sure they have already taken quite a few pre-orders - probably more than enough to make this financially viable without further sales. Although it's a lot more expensive than your typical car, it's really not that expensive compared to most other LSAs.
@Ru: Well said - i don't think anyone who buys this is going to use it to do the weekly shop. As for the comment on no LSA equivelent in the UK/EU, there is, at least on the aircraft certification side - it's called VLA, and it's less restrictive than LSA (no 120kt speed limit, no restriction on VP props, extra 100kg of MTOW), yet very few aircraft have been certified under it. In fact introducing VLA is one of the few (only) good things EASA have done IMHO. There is also a reduced license in the works (LAPL) which will be somewhat akin to a light sports pilot's certificate when it is introduced in 2014.
Now for my two penneth: IMHO the Transition is hideously ugly as both a car and an aircraft and I can only shudder at the thought of how it most likely handles - any aircraft with a ballistic recovery chute as standard makes me wonder about likely spin characteristics! If a flying car it must be, I'd rather have a vintage Taylor Aerocar any day of the week - much classier.