Drink and drive combined as billionaire Elon Musk announces ‘Teslaquila’ liquor brand

American car company Tesla officially filed an application with US Patent and Trademark Office to trademark ‘Teslaquila’ on October 15th. CEO Elon Musk joked on Instagram as part of an April Fool’s last year about releasing a Tesla-themed tequila brand due to Tesla going bankrupt, however what was once a joke has now become reality and a new venture for the entrepreneur. According to CNBC, the trademark is for ‘distilled agave liquor’ and ‘distilled blue agave liquor’.

As avant-garde the idea may seem, Tesla have announced many unrelated limited-edition products in the past – not forgetting Tesla Surfboard. The liquor was filed as “based on intent to use,” which means Tesla doesn’t have the product ready just yet. The company needs to physicalize the product in order to obtain the trademark.

According to Teslarati, Tesla also filed an ‘intent to use’ trademark for the product, which means that while the company in not using the ‘Teslaquila’ brand today, it has a ‘good faith intention’ to use it in the future.

Meanwhile both Tesla and Musk have been fined by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after Musk Tweeted he had “funding secured” to take the company private – funding that failed to materialize. At the SEC’s request, Tesla is now seeking a chairman to oversee the company.

After going public with the news of the trademark application the billionaire tweeted that it is ‘coming soon’ and released a ‘visual approximation’ with a white, black, and red Teslaquila label on a 750 milliliter bottle.

By Sena Tokel, a student at Southampton Solent University