Tesla’s Latest Product That No One Asked For Is A $350 Pickleball Paddle – Jalopnik

In an overvalued partnership that could only be surpassed by Nvidia producing baseball bats for the New York Mets, Tesla announced last Friday that it a limited edition pickleball paddle in collaboration with Selkirk Sports. The Pickleball Approved Paddle in the US will be available for the ridiculous price of $350. If you buy this paddle, I hope you reconsider the life choices that led you to such a stupid purchase. Pickleball shouldn’t have multiple professional tours and Tesla shouldn’t be valued at over $1.5 trillion.

Selkirk claims that the Tesla Plaid Paddle is not just a branding exercise, but a technical collaboration with the electric car manufacturer. Tom Barnes, Selkirk co-owner and director of Research and Development, said in a press release“Tesla’s design group and our R&D team spent more than a year trading data, refining geometry and testing prototypes.” All of Tesla’s aerodynamic testing resulted in a paddle with an “edgeless” outline (rounded edges) and an open-air throat, similar to a tennis racket. Selkirk also noted that the paddle features the “patent pending” InfiniGrit surface to help generate spin during the split second when the two-layer carbon fiber face comes into contact with the plastic ball.

As a cursory glance, it’s rare to see a pickleball paddle shop so far above $300. The price even surpasses high-end tennis rackets. The Babolat Pure Aero 98used by Carlos Alcaraz, the men’s world number one, costs $299. Jessica Pegula, the women’s world number six and my former classmate, is currently using a Yonex Ezone 98 racket, which retails for $305. Although I’ve only played tennis, pickleball seems like a fun recreational game. However, you shouldn’t burn more than $300 on a carbon fiber paddle.

There’s a lot of money in selling stuff to fans. Ferrari generates billions of dollars in revenue through merchandise sales. However, Tesla is nowhere near as popular and could never sell enough pickleball paddles to fill the gaping hole in car sales. Despite the introduction of the stripped-down standard version of the Model Y and Model 3, Tesla sales fell by 23% in November. Apparently no one wants to buy a worse version of a ten-year-old car from a car manufacturer that just gave its CEO a trillion-dollar compensation package.