Tesla’s $1,500 surfboard sells out in a day

Electric car giant Tesla has expanded its zero-emissions range in an unexpected way by launching a limited-edition surfboard.

The now sold-out board was developed by the company’s design team in collaboration with surfing brand Lost Surfboards and craftsman Matt Biolos.

Each board is bespoke, but it’s not yet known what options buyers have when speccing their surfboard.

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Tesla says the board comes with a mix of the same “high-quality” matte and gloss finishes that are used on their production cars. The deck of the board is made from lightweight carbon fibre embossed with the company’s logo.

The board, which is limited in quantity (only 200 have been made), has a price tag of $1,500 (£1,140) before tax. This puts it at the “higher end” of the surfboard pricing scale, says Tech Crunch.

The majority of boards offered by Lost are available for between $700-$800 (£530-£600), the tech company says. Products from other high-end surfboard makers such as Ripcurl can be bought for around $750 (£570).

Now that all 200 Tesla boards have sold out a handful of them have cropped up on eBay. Thanks to their scarcity, some come with a hefty premium.

According to The Verge, surfers who missed out on the flash sale will need to spend between $2,000 and $5,000 (£1,520-£3,810) to get their hands on one through the auction site.

While surfboards may seem a little off-piste for a company specialising in electric vehicles, Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, is no stranger to unorthodox marketing stunts.

The California-based firm offers child-sized versions of their electric cars, for example, that include a battery power supply.

In February, Musk’s tunnelling venture, The Boring Company, sold £7m worth of “novelty” flamethrowers within the space of four days, Reuters reports.

Remarkably, The Boring Company produced 20,000 examples of the $500 (£350) flamethrower, far more than the arguably less dangerous surfboards.