When Tesla CEO Elon Musk toured Germany last week, he made an unexpected stop to meet with Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess in Braunschweig.
Reports at the time indicated the two CEO’s met to discuss electrification and digitization of the auto industry. It was also reported Elon Musk got to personally inspect the new ID.3 and ID.4 electric vehicles, even getting to test drive them along the airport runway.
New video posted to LinkedIn by Diess and shared on VW’s official Twitter account confirms the reports, and shows the two taking the ID.3 out for a quick spin in rainy conditions.
As they emerge from the airport hangar Diess prefaces the test drive by reminding Musk it isn’t a race car saying “You know this is a mainstream car. Not a race machine,” to which Musk laughs and replies “Yeah, I just wanted to see what the acceleration is like.”
Musk commended the small electric hatchback for its steering, saying “for a non-sporty car it’s pretty good.”
Once on the main runway, Musk gets the ID.3 up to over 100km/h as he asks if the car has any lane following function “or anything like that.” Diess responds with some diplomacy, saying it has German state-of-the-art technology.
Once they return to the hangar, we also get a good glimpse at the production-ready ID.4 electric SUV, which is set to have its official reveal later this month.
Check out the full video, and let us know what you think in the comments below.
"Thanks for the visit, @ElonMusk! Hope you like the video. It was great driving the @volkswagen ID.3 with you!" comments our CEO Herbert Diess on @LinkedIn. #ShapingMobilityhttps://t.co/NtcYXNRScC
— Volkswagen Group (@VWGroup) September 7, 2020
