Elon Musk has been visiting a few Tesla projects in Germany when he happened to meet Volkswagen CEO Hebert Diess at the Braunschweig-Wolfsburg Airport. Since the facility is mostly used by the German car maker, the Tesla CEO ended up test driving the latter¡¯s ID.3 and ID.4 electric cars. VW has now shared a video of the same.
Hebert posted the video of the meeting with Musk on his LinkedIn account. In the video, Musk can be seen test driving the Volkswagen ID.3, inquiring about the car as he drives with Diess answering his inquiries.
¡°You know this is a mainstream car, not a race machine,¡± Diess jokes as Musk takes the car out of a hangar at the Airport. The duo then take it for a spin on the runway, as Diess explains its lane keeping and emergency assist systems to Musk.
Dated September 3, the video ends at the hangar, with Volkswagen¡¯s both upcoming ID.3 and ID.4 electric cars on display. Musk can be seen contemplating his thoughts about the ID.3 as he walks away from it. Once, in between, he let these thoughts out - ¡°I think for a non-sporty car it is pretty good.¡±
In further comments to the post, Diess wrote that he suggested Musk try the Porsche Taycan for a ¡°sporty car¡± on his next visit. With a selfie with Musk, he even clarified the rumours going on after the meeting went viral.
¡°Just to be clear: We just drove the ID.3 and had a chat - there is no deal/cooperation in the making.¡±
Volkswagen is ready to deliver the "first edition" ID.3 electric car to the buyers this month in most of the European countries. Meanwhile, Volkswagen¡¯s ID.4 electric SUV has entered production in Germany and will be ready for deliveries next year.
The company has been on an expansion drive even since redirecting its efforts to go completely green. The endeavour brings it in direct competition with Tesla, especially now that the US EV maker is setting its next plant in Germany. Yet there seems to be quite a fellowship between the two firms that might ultimately achieve the common goal, bring greener cars on the roads.