A company that knew its car killed and priced the lawsuits cheaper. A car made of recycled cotton. And the first car ever to break 100 km/h — pulled by an electric motor. Everything below is verified history… that nobody talks about.
In China — just like the Germans (BMW 3/5/7) — a model's number declares its class within the brand's lineup: the bigger the digit, the bigger and pricier the car. Crack the code and you know any Chinese model's size from its name alone.
Notice: there’s no 4. The digit four (四 sì) sounds almost like “death” (死 sǐ) — so it’s skipped in buildings, phone numbers, and car names. The rare exception here is the MG4 — but that’s a global badge for a car sold in China as the Mulan, so the rule survives.
In 1899 — before petrol was even famous — Belgian Camille Jenatzy drove his torpedo-shaped EV 'La Jamais Contente' to 105.88 km/h, the first speed record in history. Electric didn't make a comeback… it never really left.
The Apollo 15 rover (1971) was an electric car with silver-zinc batteries, carrying astronauts 27 km across the Moon's surface. Development cost ran into tens of millions of dollars… and they left it up there. Still parked today, waiting for a charger.
Under occupation and fuel rationing, Peugeot built the tiny VLV electric car for ordinary people in 1941. A lesson that keeps repeating for 120 years: whenever petrol gets expensive or disappears… the EV puts its suit back on.
East Germany built about 4 million Trabants — their bodies made of recycled cotton and wood fibers pressed into plastic. They crumbled and rusted… yet became a whole nation's icon. Today tourists in Berlin pay ~$225 a day just to drive one.
One front wheel steered the entire car — the result? It tipped over at the first brisk corner. It could be driven on a motorcycle license in Britain, which made it a legal loophole on wheels… and a global joke. But the joke doesn't erase that it was a rolling steel trap.
While the world raced to build $100k cars, China's Wuling Hongguang Mini EV launched at about $4,500 — the price of a fancy motorcycle — and sold millions. It proved the most powerful number in the EV world isn't range or horsepower… it's price.
An Israeli startup raised about $850 million — among the biggest bets in the industry's history — to build stations that swap your battery in minutes instead of charging. The idea was brilliant… the economics were fatal: each station cost millions, and only one car model was compatible. Bankrupt by 2013. (Ironically, China's NIO made the same idea work a decade later.)
Henrik Fisker designed the BMW Z8 and Aston Martin DB9 — the man knows beauty. But running his own company: the Fisker Karma drowned in 2013, and he returned with the Fisker Ocean only to go bankrupt again in 2024. Design opens hearts… but production and cash open companies.
In 1996 GM built the electric EV1 — and its drivers fell madly in love. But it was lease-only, and in 2003 the company recalled every single one and crushed them, despite owner protests and offers to buy. The story became the famous documentary 'Who Killed the Electric Car?' — many call it the crime that set EVs back a decade.
The Pinto's fuel tank exploded in rear-end collisions — killing about 180 people. Worse? It leaked that Ford knew about the flaw before production, calculated the cost of fixing every car (~$11 each) against expected lawsuit payouts… and chose the payouts. The case became the most famous business-ethics lesson in history — and one of the auto industry's ugliest pages.
Did one of these grab you? Ask Pearl 🦪 in the corner for details — and if you know an even wilder one, share it with the community.