TL;DR
- The US Patent and Trademark Office granted design patent D1,156,251, titled "Automobile body," on November 3, 2026. Patent trackers list it under Tesla, Inc.
- It has 14 drawings of a low four-door fastback body. It does not name a model.
- A design patent protects only how something looks. It does not mean a new car is coming, and it changes nothing for the Tesla you drive today.
What was granted
Patent D1,156,251 was granted on November 3, 2026, from an application filed May 5, 2025, according to the patent record on Justia. The patent tracker IDiyas lists it among Tesla, Inc. patents granted that day. Tesla has not commented on it.
The claim is one sentence long: "The ornamental design for an automobile body, as shown and described." That is standard wording for a US design patent.
What the 14 drawings show
The patent record lists 14 figures:
- Eight perspective views, four from above and four from below
- Front and rear views
- Right and left side views
- Top and bottom views
The drawings show a low four-door body with a long roofline that slopes into the tail. Tesla community account @Chansoo, who first flagged the grant on X, also points out a front lip, side skirts, a rear spoiler and a rear diffuser in the drawings. The patent notes that parts drawn in broken lines are not part of the protected design.
Which Tesla is it?
The patent does not say. One clue is in its "other references" list, which cites three 2025 articles about the 2026 Model S, from MotorTrend, Carscoops and Autoevolution (per Justia). Examiners often list press coverage like this, but it is not Tesla naming the car. Treat any model guess as a guess.
What a design patent does and does not mean
- It protects looks, not tech. A design patent covers the shape shown in the drawings. It says nothing about batteries, range, software or price.
- It is not a product announcement. Automakers patent designs they never build, and they patent shapes of cars already on the road. Don't plan a purchase around this.
- It helps stop look-alikes. Others will have a harder time selling a car body that copies this design in the US.
- It lasts 15 years. US design patents filed after May 13, 2015 run 15 years from the grant date (USPTO, MPEP 1505).
What it means for owners
Nothing changes for your car, your warranty or your software. If you are shopping for a Tesla sedan now, buy for what is on sale today, not for a patent drawing. We will update this story if Tesla says which car the design is for.
Sources: US D1,156,251 S on Justia Patents, IDiyas Tesla patent list, @Chansoo on X, USPTO MPEP 1505.
