Say Goodbye to 'Tesla Motors' and Say Hello To…

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

In the world of corporate automotive name changes, this one isn’t on the same level as, say, anything involving Chrysler over the past 10 years.

Tesla Motors, builder and purveyor of tech-laden ecomobiles, isn’t the same fledgling company it was when the Tesla Roadster was still a hazy promise a few could conceive of an automaker offering home energy products on the side.

Now that its business umbrella covers both vehicles and the offerings of recently acquired SolarCity, the company needs to change things up. Well, just the name, really.

So, as of today, Tesla Motors Inc. becomes — drumroll, please — Tesla Inc.

Please, pick yourself up off the floor.

The shortened name was revealed in a filing to the Securities Exchange Commission earlier today.

By banishing that misleading “motors” mention from its name, Tesla can now present itself as a unified energy company. One that sells cars and SUVs, as well as methods of powering your home or cottage. Hey, at least they’re not trying to push bicycles.

Denizens of the Twitterverse shouldn’t be worried, as the company’s online handle (@TeslaMotors) hasn’t changed — at least, not yet.

[Image: Tesla]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • OldManPants OldManPants on Feb 01, 2017

    "Tesla Inc." Worked for Lipps.

    • La834 La834 on Feb 02, 2017

      I somehow only recently realized the pun in that name (Lipps Inc. = lip sync)

  • Tosh Tosh on Feb 01, 2017

    "Hey, at least they’re not trying to push bicycles." Hey, you missed a golden opportunity to say "Hey, at least they’re not trying to peddle bicycles."

  • Asdf Asdf on Feb 02, 2017

    I can understand why Tesla would not want to be associated with its sub-par automotive offerings...

  • Mor2bz Mor2bz on Feb 02, 2017

    Too bad they don't want to make bikes. market is wide open as far as I am concerned. what you have is a bunch of overpriced bad quality offerings from China which lie about their ranges. Bikes would be a no-brainer for Tesla, Inc. No worries about range expectation, AC, Heating, seating capacity, and many other things. Electric bikes are coming. They are not a subpar product category, although I agree they are now a subpar product. . Tesla could do the product better.

    • Manic Manic on Feb 04, 2017

      Here in Europe every quality bike brand has e-bikes nowadays, some of these are available also in the US. For example Haibike, Bulls, Cube, KTM etc. Also Specialized, Cannondale, Schwinn, Scott and other more American brands have some models available. Some info can be found at https://electricbikereview.com/brand/

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