Mexico doesn’t like ‘Teslaquila,’ Musk’s new agave-based liquor
Venture might have finances, but lacks oversight
Elon Musk knows how to break into — and upend — established industries.
Electric cars? Tesla. Space travel? Rockets with the SpaceX name on them are launching from Florida, and Musk wants to use them to colonize Mars. Bad traffic around Los Angeles? Dig a tunnel with the Boring Co.
So why not get into the business of making liquor, too? After all, stars such as Sammy Hagar (Cabo Wabo) and George Clooney (Casamigos) successfully make tequila. Musk probably wouldn’t even have to sell that much of his 20 per cent stake in Tesla to get bottles on the shelves.
But money might not matter to those who oversee the world of tequila: Mexico’s Tequila Regulatory Council.
On Oct. 12, Musk said on Twitter that “Teslaquila coming soon,” with what he said was a “visual approximation” of what the label and bottle would look like.
The label, which includes Tesla’s “T”-like logo and a couple of lightning bolts, purports to also be “100 per cent puro de agave,” like many good tequilas. However, Musk wants to make Teslaquila, not “tequila.”
Still, it’s hard not to think of tequila when you hear the name Teslaquila. And that bothers the CRT.
One of the responsibilities of the CRT is to ensure the that anyone who wants to market tequila as tequila adheres to a specific set of rules —and those rules include where tequila is made. It must be made in one of five Mexican states —Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacan, Nayarit or Tamaulipas —for the producer to use the word tequila in marketing the spirit. The CRT also says the name Teslaquila evokes the name tequila, which is a protected word; as such, it could be construed as tequila by consumers when it really isn’t tequila.
According to Reuters, the CRT said that if Musk wants to make Teslaquila “viable as a tequila, it would have to associate itself with an authorized tequila producer, comply with certain standards and request authori- zation from Mexico’s Industrial Property Institute.”
A Tesla spokesperson said the CRT’s worries are unfounded and that Teslaquila will comply with all the organization’s necessary standards and requirements. The spokesperson added that Teslaquila will be made in the Mexican state of Jalisco, and Tesla expects to get the CRT’s approval for the beverage.
Tesla filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a trademark to market Teslaquila as both distilled agave liquor and distilled blue agave liquor. The company has also made similar filings in Mexico, the European Union and Jamaica.