{"id":40694,"date":"2025-12-13T07:11:44","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T07:11:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/usa\/teslas-latest-launch-isnt-a-car-its-a-350-pickleball-paddle-and-its-not-even-electric\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T07:11:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T07:11:44","slug":"teslas-latest-launch-isnt-a-car-its-a-350-pickleball-paddle-and-its-not-even-electric","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/usa\/teslas-latest-launch-isnt-a-car-its-a-350-pickleball-paddle-and-its-not-even-electric\/","title":{"rendered":"Tesla&#8217;s latest launch isn&#8217;t a car &mdash; it&#8217;s a $350 pickleball paddle &mdash; and it&#8217;s not even electric"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/693cd96a64858d02d216c414?format=jpeg\" alt=\"A pickleball paddle created by Tesla and Selkirk Sport\"\/><figcaption>For $350, Tesla will sell you a pickleball paddle that still won&#039;t fix your backhand.<\/p>\n<p>Selkirk Sport<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Tesla has launched a $350 pickleball paddle &quot;optimized for high-performance play.&quot;<\/li>\n<li>The paddle, a partnership with Selkirk, is the EV brand&#039;s latest foray into lifestyle products.<\/li>\n<li>Pickleball is surging in popularity and requires equipment that&#039;s generally found for under $100.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>From Elon Musk \u2014 the guy who brought the world a branded flamethrower \u2014 it somehow tracks that Tesla is now making pickleball paddles.<\/p>\n<p>The EV company launched its latest lifestyle product on Friday: a $350 pickleball paddle created in partnership with Selkirk, a sports equipment company.<\/p>\n<p>The paddle, made of carbon fiber with a foam core, was &quot;optimized for high-performance play,&quot; according to the product page.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;This wasn&#039;t simply a branding exercise. It was a true engineering collaboration,&quot; Selkirk&#039;s co-owner and director of research and development, Tom Barnes, said in a statement about the release. &quot;Tesla&#039;s design group and our R&amp;D team spent more than a year trading data, refining geometry, and stress-testing prototypes.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>A Selkirk spokesperson told Business Insider that the paddle&#039;s creation was first conceptualized after a conversation at the 2023 USA Pickleball National Championships between Barnes and members of Tesla&#039;s engineering team.<\/p>\n<p>After Barnes delivered a custom batch of Tesla-themed paddles to the EV-maker&#039;s staff, Selkirk leaders visited the Tesla factory in Fremont, California. While there, they connected with Javier Verdura, Tesla&#039;s global director of product design, who is an avid pickleball player, and began the design process.<\/p>\n<p>Prototypes were sent to Tesla for aerodynamics testing before the design was finalized.<\/p>\n<p>The limited-run batch of the paddle sold out on Tesla&#039;s website in under three hours after its launch, a Selkirk spokesperson told Business Insider. Plans for a restock remain unclear.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Silicon Valley&#039;s new status symbol<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>While the pickleball paddle is Tesla&#039;s first foray into traditional, non-electrified sports equipment, the automaker does offer a line of apparel and home products, like drinkware ($30+), backpacks ($185+), and salt and pepper shakers ($65).<\/p>\n<p>Musk&#039;s other business ventures have also leaned into collectible merchandise, such as the Boring Company&#039;s flamethrower, which went viral in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Tesla&#039;s lifestyle products are not listed as a separate line item in their financial reports, and there is no publicly available evidence to suggest that they have a significant impact on the company&#039;s finances. Tesla stock closed up more than 2% on Friday, but sank slightly in after-hours trading.<\/p>\n<p>Pickleball, which combines elements of tennis, badminton, and ping-pong, has experienced explosive growth in popularity in recent years. The 2024 Pickleball Single Sport Report, released by the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, found that participation has increased by 45.8% since 2023 \u2014 representing 311% growth over the past three years.<\/p>\n<p>In that time, pickleball has transformed from a suburban hobby for the 55+ crowd into a popular activity and networking opportunity among Silicon Valley professionals.<\/p>\n<p>Entry-level equipment for the sport doesn&#039;t require a significant investment, with a basic paddle and ball running less than $50. However, since pickleball has gained traction among tech personalities like Bill Gates and celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, higher-end products have crept into the market.<\/p>\n<p>Some Selkirk models run upward of $150, while others, like the Aero Blade 1.19, cost $299 and up. The Aero Bladefeatures a carbon fiber frame with a foam core, similar to that of the Tesla version.<\/p>\n<p>The debut of the Tesla pickleball paddle elicited split reactions on social media, with some fans of the brand celebrating its release as a clever gift opportunity ahead of the holiday season. Others were quick to criticize the price point and Selkirk&#039;s strategy to partner with Tesla, rather than a well-known pickleball player or influencer.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Selkirks out here like &#039;We are going to let every signed pro walk, and then collab with the worlds biggest brands that have nothing to do with pickleball,&#039;&quot; Jimmy Miller, a pickleball player and host of the &#039;&quot;King of the Court&quot; podcast, wrote in a post on X.<br \/>&quot;Bold strategy. Curious if it pays off,&quot; he added. &quot;Tesla fans will probably sell that paddle out. Who is next? Apple? Maybe they can do a Nvidia collab that comes with shares!&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Read the original article on Business Insider<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For $350, Tesla will sell you a pickleball paddle that still won&#039;t fix your backhand. Selkirk Sport Tesla has launched a $350 pickleball paddle &quot;optimized for high-performance play.&quot; The paddle, a partnership with Selkirk, is the EV brand&#039;s latest foray into lifestyle products. Pickleball is surging in popularity and requires equipment that&#039;s generally found for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40695,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-40694","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}