It was an awkward blooper that may have been a blessing in disguise.
When Tesla unveiled the Cybertruck in 2019, the company’s chief designer, Franz von Holzhausen, stood next to CEO Elon Musk and threw a metal ball at the car’s windows to prove their durability.
The only problem? The Cybertruck’s windows shattered.
In a recent interview, von Holzhausen spoke about the story behind the viral incident.
He’d done a test run on the armored glass windows “multiple times right before we went live on the stage,” he said in an interview with Tesla Club Austria published Saturday.
“I think it was just one of those Murphy’s law kind of things where something bad happens. But it turned out to be a great meme,” he said.
The incident also “turned into a great marketing moment” for the company, which famously doesn’t advertise.
Shortly after the debacle, Tesla started selling a $45 T-shirt with a shattered design poking fun at the accident.
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“The ball didn’t go through the window, so you know, you’re still safe,” von Holzhausen said. “It was not an expected moment, but in that moment, you have to roll with it.”
Shortly after the mishap, Musk offered an explanation on X, then known as Twitter. A few moments before throwing the ball at the two windows, von Holzhausen had taken a sledgehammer to the door of the Cybertruck to prove it was sturdy. Unlike the windows, the door held up against the impact.
“Sledgehammer impact on door cracked base of glass, which is why steel ball didn’t bounce off. Should have done steel ball on window, then sledgehammer the door,” Musk said in his explanation.
Musk laughed off the incident during the live event, saying there was “room for improvement.”
Musk released a slow-motion video shortly after the fail, showing the Cybertruck’s windows remain unscathed after von Holzhausen threw a steel ball at them off-stage.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
