Tesla’s Newest Product No One Requested For Is A $350 Pickleball Paddle

In an overvalued partnership that might solely be topped by Nvidia producing baseball bats for the New York Mets, Tesla introduced final Friday that it’s launching a limited-edition pickleball paddle in collaboration with Selkirk Sport. The USA Pickleball-approved paddle will retail on the ludicrous worth of $350. When you purchase this paddle, I hope you rethink the life selections that introduced you to such a silly buy. Pickleball should not have a number of skilled excursions and Tesla should not be valued at over $1.5 trillion.

Selkirk claims that the Tesla Plaid Paddle is not only a branding train, however an engineering collaboration with the electrical automaker. Tom Barnes, Selkirk co-owner and Director of Analysis and Improvement, mentioned in a launch“Tesla’s design group and our R&D workforce spent greater than a 12 months buying and selling information, refining geometry and stress-testing prototypes.” All of Tesla’s aerodynamic testing resulted in a paddle with an “edgeless” perimeter (rounded edges) and an open-air throat, just like a tennis racket. Selkirk additionally famous that the paddle consists of its “patent-pending” InfiniGrit Floor to assist generate spin through the break up second when the two-ply carbon fiber face comes into contact with the plastic ball.

As a cursory look, it is uncommon to see any pickleball paddle retail that far north of $300. The worth level surpasses even high-end tennis rackets. The Babolat Pure Aero 98utilized by males’s world primary Carlos Alcaraz, prices $299. Jessica Pegula, ladies’s world quantity six and my former faculty classmate, at present makes use of a Yonex Ezone 98 racket, which retails at $305. Whereas I’ve solely ever performed tennis, pickleball looks as if a enjoyable leisure sport. Nevertheless, you should not be burning over $300 on a carbon-fiber paddle.

Tesla isn’t any stranger to hawking overpriced merchandise for its legion of zealous followers to throw money at. The corporate launched a $450 mezcal final 12 months, offered in lightning-bolt-shaped bottles. It was produced in partnership with Nosotros Mezcal, which offered its personal model of mezcal at $70 per bottle. Let’s not neglect all the CyberTruck-themed merch that Tesla offered to capitalize on the fervor surrounding its recalled-plagued pickup. There was the CyberVessela $50 stainless-steel journey mug, and CyberBeer, a terrible-tasting $150 beer. The CyberHammera $700 intended-for-display sledgehammer.

There’s some huge cash in promoting stuff to followers. Ferrari generates billions of {dollars} in income via merchandise gross sales. Nevertheless, Tesla’s nowhere close to that degree of recognition and will by no means promote sufficient pickleball paddles to fill the gaping gap in automobile gross sales. Regardless of introducing the stripped-down Customary model of the Mannequin Y and Mannequin 3Tesla’s gross sales fell by 23% in November. Seemingly, nobody desires to purchase a worse model of a decade-old automobile from an automaker that simply gave its CEO a trillion-dollar pay package deal.