[imagesource: here]

Last year, Elon Musk’s automotive company, Tesla, had to go into survival mode following a series of unfortunate events.

Tesla was in the news for all the wrong reasons, from exploding cars to a series of videos showing people misusing their self-driving cars.

Then came the Cybertruck, and that ill-advised rock demonstration.

Now, it looks like all of that is behind them, and the company has recently unseated Toyota Motor Corp as the world’s most valuable automaker.

To celebrate, and take a bit of a dig at everyone who doubted Musk and his electric car, Musk is selling red satin “short shorts”.

REUTERS with more:

Musk has often taken umbrage at short-sellers and in 2018 sent a box of shorts to hedge fund owner and Tesla short-seller David Einhorn.

The “Short Shorts” on the Tesla shop website feature gold trim and “S3XY” in gold across the back, which also happens to be formed from Tesla model names.

The shorts cost $69.420, the last three digits an apparent reference to Musk’s infamous tweet in 2018 that he was considering taking Tesla private for $420 per share, with 420 also a code word for marijuana.

And the 69? Well, I’m sure you can figure that out.

Keep in mind that the tweet mentioned above landed him in hot water and cost him his position as Tesla chairman, so it’s a strange thing to reference.

Musk once again took to Twitter to announce the shorts:

They’re available on the Tesla website, which describes them like this:

Celebrate summer with Tesla Short Shorts. Run like the wind or entertain like Liberace with our red satin and gold trim design. Relax poolside or lounge indoors year-round with our limited-edition Tesla Short Shorts, featuring our signature Tesla logo in front with “S3XY” across the back. Enjoy exceptional comfort from the closing bell.

Okay. Sure.

It’s a weird way to celebrate, but he’s a weird dude.

The Silicon Valley car maker, however, has reason to crow. Its stock has almost tripled in value this year to just over $1,200 per share and it sold more than 90,000 of its electric vehicles in the second quarter, defying a trend of plummeting sales for other automakers hit by coronavirus-induced lockdowns.

Unfortunately for Tesla, a spanner could be thrown into the works soon. The Los Angeles Times has reported that Federal safety officials are probing allegations of defective cooling systems installed in early-model Tesla vehicles.

Tesla allegedly installed tubes prone to leaks in Model S vehicles, according to internal emails uncovered by Business Insider.

So, they’d better enjoy their victory while it lasts.

[source:reuters]&tesla]