Electrical Fire Destroys Top-Secret Test Car

An electrical malfunction sparked a fire that destroyed a prototype electric car shortly after it arrived from Japan for testing at Mitsubishi Motors’ local headquarters.

The fire began in the secret high-tech car about 15 minutes after it was parked in a secured lot Wednesday, company officials said. It had been scheduled for a road test Thursday.

The car was insured for $790,000, but “prototype vehicles are priceless in terms of engineering data,” Mitsubishi official Larry Moore said.