Tesla Being 'Safest Car On The Planet' Has Something To Do With Elon Musk's Crashing History, Aricomoto CEO Theorizes

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk crashed a prototype three-wheeled fun utility vehicle made by Arcimoto Inc FUV into a brick wall, the latter's CEO Mark Frohnmayer said.

What Happened: Frohnmayer made the revelation in an interview with HyperChange. "Elon is the very first one to ever crash an Arcimoto,” he disclosed.

“He jumped into the driver’s seat of Adeo’s Arcimoto and promptly drove into a brick wall,” Frohnmayer claimed, referring to Musk.

Frohnmayer said the vehicle in question belonged to Silicon Valley investor Adeo Ressi, who was a roommate of Musk at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Arcimoto CEO noted it was still not “entirely clear” how the incident happened but did say prior to narrating the anecdote that Musk had crashed a motorcycle when he was younger and had said that Tesla would never make a motorcycle.

Musk has also crashed a McLaren F1 sports car, according to Frohnmayer.

“The fact that Tesla is the safest car on the planet and it drives for you makes a lot of sense when looked at from that lens,” theorized the Arcimoto CEO.

Musk had publicly refused to support three-wheelers citing safety in the past, as per Frohnmayer.

Why It Matters: The crash occurred near the fall of 2019 and Musk did not suffer injuries in the accident, Electrek reported.

The FUV has reportedly the capacity to carry two passengers and is a hybrid of a motorcycle and a car.

Last month, Musk had said that “safety is our primary design goal” while responding to a tweet that contained graphic visuals of a crashed Model 3 vehicle.

The driver involved in that accident walked away with only “minor injuries.” 

Price Action: Tesla shares closed 3.1% lower at $567.60 on Monday and rose 4.32% in the after-hours session to $592.10. On the same day, Arcimoto shares closed nearly 0.4% lower at $13.50 and fell 0.3% in the after-hours session.

Photo courtesy of Forbes via Wikimedia