Musk Teslaquila plan crosses borderland

Don’t worry about the federales — this new Tesla tequila is going to be the real deal.

That’s the message from sources close to futurist billionaire Elon Musk, who say he has already cut deals to produce a new tequila called Teslaquila that complies with Mexican regulations.

Last month, Musk tickled tech watchers with a plan to launch Teslaquila, which seemed more of a laugh than a liquor.

The 46-year-old tech tycoon tweeted an image of a sample bottle, including a lightning bolt logo inspired by Tesla’s design scheme.

Tesla did file an application with the US Patent and Trademark Office to trademark the name for a “distilled agave liquor” and “distilled blue agave liquor,” according to the office’s Web site.

Mexico’s Tequila Regulatory Council (CRT) weighed in, though, warning Tesla that in order to be an authorized tequila producer it would be forced to “comply with certain standards and request authorization from Mexico’s Industrial Property Institute.”

The “name ‘Teslaquila’ evokes the word Tequila ... (and) Tequila is a protected word,” the CRT said.

Meanwhile, the electric-car maker is working to satisfy regulators, with plans to distill its firewater from pure agave in the Mexican state of Jalisco, according to sources close to company.

Elon Musk’s plans to trademark Teslaquila (inset) as an alcoholic beverage have Mexico’s tequila producers crying foul. Makers of the liquor made from the spiky blue agave plant (shown) argue that Teslaquila is too closely associated with tequila, a protected word.