Elon Musk's hottest product? His sold-out $500 flamethrowers
Talk about a fire sale: all 20,000 flamethrowers manufactured by Elon Musk's Boring Company have sold out.
The flamethrowers retailed for $500 a pop, ringing up gross sales of $10 million. Perhaps sniffing a business opportunity on the secondary market, the flamethrowers are now popping up on eBay, with sellers asking anywhere from a low of $560 to a high of $44,995.
After pitching the flamethrowers as "a super terrible idea" that people definitely did not want to buy -- unless they happened to like "fun" -- the tech billionaire tweeted Thursday that the flamethrowers had sold out.
The flamethrowers are billed by the Boring Company's website as "guaranteed to liven up any party."
A Boring Company spokesperson told CNET the flamethrower is "safer than what you can buy right now off-the-shelf on Amazon to destroy weeds. Much like a rollercoaster, this is designed to be thrilling without danger. Dangerous flamethrowers are already regulated and require a permit to own in California."
What Musk views as a successful product launch has sparked concerns among some regulators and lawmakers. One California lawmaker has vowed to introduce legislation to block sales of flamethrowers to the public.
The Boring Company's previous product was much less controversial: a $20 Boring Company baseball cap. Next up? Musk, in replying to a follower on Twitter, suggested that a gadget to launch snow could be fun.
