First of all Tesla is hardly a competitor. Tesla makes consumer vehicles while Nikola was targeteting the trucking business. But in any case being associated wi

First of all Tesla is hardly a competitor. Tesla makes consumer vehicles while Nikola was targeteting the trucking business. But in any case being associated with (at the time) a highly successful brand for whom the trees seemed to grow into the heavens was probably a key goal when choosing the name. These days Tesla's brand is a bit tarnished, but the sky was the limit for it back in 2014 when Nikola was founded.