Bizarre Tesla drinking glass design gets roasted online

Elon Musk has his hands full these days, what with his chaotic takeover of Twitter, so I'm not sure how much involvement he will have had with Tesla's latest, and perhaps, weirdest product. No, it's not an unsteady robot or a dystopian off-road vehicle. We expect that from Tesla. It's a set of glassware.

Alcohol might seem like a strange sideline for a car company, but Tesla surprised us earlier in the year by releasing its own limited-edition tequila. In a bottle shaped like a lightning bolt, obviously. Now it's released the perfect accessory for anyone who snapped up one of those $420 bottles – Tesla sipping glasses. And they're possibly the most impractical, worst designed glasses we've ever seen.

There are Musk devotees out there who will buy anything with the Tesla name on it, and I guess that's what the company's banking on with the release of its Tesla sipping glasses. 'Savor your favorite liquor with a limited edition set of Tesla Sipping Glasses,' the company says. 'Inspired by Tesla Tequila’s unique silhouette, each glass is designed with angular contours and an engraved Tesla logo.' They cost $75 for a pair and that generously includes a display stand, which is good because on their own the glasses would be unusable.

Design-wise, Tesla has prioritised a shiny novelty attempting to be futuristic design over practicality. The glasses might look sleek with the hard angles but they have to be either held in your hand or in their stand.. or I supposed you could try to wedge them into a plant pot.

There seems to be genuine demand, with an initial batch selling out quickly on Tesla's online shop – it seems they're being made to order. Some people are even rallying around and saying that we should all buy the glasses to "help Elon". Yes, Elon Must needs our charity. But most people are poking fun via Musk's latest possession, Twitter. And we hear them. $75 for glasses that don't stand up?

"Awkwardly shaped, making drinking more difficult. Can not be placed down on any surface other than the designated stand. Can slide out from sides of stand. Shape makes for awkward, uncomfortable grip. $75 for 2 shot glasses. Ah yes, praise be the tech savant," one person sniped. "Typical Tesla. Take an existing entity, find a way to make it worse, charge way too much for it, and fanbois buy it out in a week," someone else wrote.

The physicist @melosyna suggested a radical design for a glass with – shock – a flat bottom. "Forgot to mention that my design also holds more volume per glass since it minimizes surface area," she elaborated. "This also helps reducing shipping weight and contributes to a more efficient and thus sustainable use of resources,"

Now we know the concept of a glass that requires a stand isn't novel to Tesla. They've been done many times before and they're almost always awkward and frustrating to use. Usually at least each glass has its own stand, but the Tesla glasses have a single stand for the pair, rendering them even more impractical. 

It just goes to show that not every company known for its sleek design gets it right every time, but perhaps it doesn't need to if the aim is only to sell to dedicated fans. It does make us wonder what the rumoured Tesla phone would really look like, however. And it also reminds us that everyone's still laughing at the Tesla logo.

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