Tesla Released a $1,500 Surfboard That Sold Out in a Day
fortune.com
fortune.com
Wonder how a Tesla board would be received in the lineup. My guess is that aside from a few localized breaks, nobody would care much. Might generate more curiosity than hostility at a lot of spots, and where it would generate hostility, well, pretty much anything that stands out is a bad idea there. You know where to keep a low profile (that said, a shiny "Tesla" board in those rare circumstances would seem like an unusually unwise way of standing out, kind of like wearing a t-shirt celebrating your tech IPO at an anti-gentrification rally).
One thing that drives me a little nuts is the very sharp pointy nose, which I consider to be a non-functional hazard done purely for cosmetics. I actually think the smooth rounded edge looks better too, kind of like the corners of an iPhone. But Tesla would hardly be the first or only violator here. And if it's for decoration on the wall, then no harm no foul.
I'm all for buying surfboards as art. It's no crime to hang them on the wall and not ride them, as far as I'm concerned, and I highly doubt a shaper is going to be bummed to get the business. But this Tesla board on my wall as art? Nah.
Marine engines are another market that is ripe for electrification: most boats are relatively insensitive to the added weight of batteries.
There are places that give away free stuff right now on this planet that people won't even ever feel an impulse to acquire.
But because of Elon Musk's appeal and cult-status, Tesla customers feel a strong impetus to purchase something they likely will never use. It's sole utility is being a collector's item and potentially granting access to a high net worth community through a strange quirk of biology that we call "signaling".
Tesla is a historic company, make no mistake about that. This has very little to do with the marketing and customer acquisition.
Tesla made itself into a something more than a brand-- it is a life-style and a status symbol. Tesla could sell rice and people would still buy it because there seems to be a deep human desire to belong to the "it" group