Tesla is now selling karaoke mics for your car

Tesla has quietly launched its karaoke kit for Tesla vehicles, dubbed the CaraokeMic, in the US. This product first launched two years ago in China, which made sense with the massive scale of Karaoke culture across Asia. Buyers get two Tesla-branded wireless mics as well as a receiver, a storage bag, and power and data cables. Notably, the kit is designed explicitly for the media apps in Tesla vehicles. The US version of the CaraokeMic will only be compatible with vehicles running Tesla’s 2024.26 firmware update and equipped with an Intel Atom or AMD Ryzen processor.

There are some other unusual touches here. The mics automatically pair with your car, and can last 10 hours each on a charge. They should also work with any Tesla media app on a front or rear display, including the dedicated Caraoke app. You’ll still have access to car controls while a karaoke session is underway, so you and/or passengers can sing along during roadtrips.

The kit costs $215 in the US, although Tesla says it won’t ship the product to Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, or the Virgin Islands. To check if your car is compatible, you’ll need to navigate to Software -> Additional Vehicle Information on your dash.

Tesla

Why would Tesla sell a karaoke mic?

Tesla — along with other companies controlled by Elon Musk — has a history of selling novelty products that generate publicity and support the notion of a Tesla ‘lifestyle.’ At the moment, for example, you can also get a $300 phone charger based on the Cybertruck, or drinking cups ranging from mugs to liquor glasses. The most expensive novelty is the $1,650 “Cyberquad,” essentially a 10mph ATV for kids. For a brief time, Musk’s Boring Company offered a short-range flamethrower.

The Tesla Caraoke Mic is a product more rooted in a specific culture, as it was launched first in China two years ago to celebrate the Chinese New Year, and Karaoke in China represents an almost 9 billion dollar industry. Tesla’s reason for a US launch, however, is less clear. There’s long been a focus on in-car entertainment. Beyond music, Tesla owners have been able to watch movies or even play games on their dashboards, although not while driving. While a lot of this tech was originally intended to pass the time while supercharging, the growth of the supercharger network and the increased charging speed in more recent models begs the question of when exactly these mics would be put to good use in the US.