Tesla may work S-E-X back in name of new model

Chris Woodyard | USA TODAY

Electric car maker Tesla thinks it has solved the problem of the name of its next, most important model. And it's not quite as easy as S-E-X.

Tesla sells the Model S sedan, and the Model X crossover is due to start deliveries next year. For its third model, CEO Elon Musk had chosen the name Model E. Get it? S-E-X.

But then Ford interjected and said it owned the trademark for the name Model E. What to do?

Musk tells British website AutoExpress that it has settled on a new name for the third car as the Model III, as in 3. It's the most important yet because it will sell for about $35,000, half of the price of the current Model S, when it goes on sale, likely in 2017.

"The new model is going to be called Model III, we'll have three bars to represent it and it'll be S III X!" Musk tells the site. Turn the three bars sideways and you have a capital E. Sort of.

Reached for comment, Tesla spokesman Simon Sproule confirmed the new name. "Yes, correct that the new car will be called the Model 3 — wait and see how the final badging will be executed," he writes.

But that gets us to thinking. If the new car were called the Model 3, and the 3 were reversed like how it is seen in a mirror, it would also look like an E. Somehow "S-3-X." doesn't have the same ring, but with a little graphics work — or lots of mirrors — it could come close.