Elon Musk showed off Tesla's long-delayed Roadster on Thursday, flying it over parked cars on SpaceX thrusters and hitting 60 mph in 0.81 seconds, with production set for 2028.
Key Points:
- Tesla unveiled three Roadster versions, including a single-seat Rocket model that can lift off the ground.
- Musk set production for 2028, eight years after the car's original delivery target.
- One analyst called the show an engineering stunt with little commercial value.
Tesla Roadster Demo
Musk presented the car at SpaceX's test site in McGregor, Texas, where it climbed a curved wall, hung nearly upside down on suction fans and flipped over a row of Tesla models.
A live run clocked 0.81 seconds from zero to 60 mph, and Musk said the production car should beat that time. No human drove the car during the stunts, a choice Musk said was meant to avoid killing anyone.
After the show, Tesla listed three versions, starting with a two-seat Performance model that reaches 60 mph in under 1.6 seconds and a limited-run Thrust that adds rear cold-gas thrusters to get under 0.9 seconds. The single-seat Rocket, offered by invitation only, can lift off the ground and top 230 mph, but Tesla says it is not approved for public roads.
Ten compressed-air nozzles fed by a 600-liter tank, which the car can refill on its own, provide the thrust, and every version claims more than 300 miles of range. Tesla has not released battery or motor details. It gave no price either, but U.S. buyers must put down $50,000 to reserve a Performance car and $250,000 for a Thrust, the same sums it collected in 2017.
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Gene Munster's Take
Tesla shares rose nearly 3% in overnight trading, but Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, called the reveal an "engineering flex" with little commercial value beyond showing up traditional carmakers. He also read the event as a sign that Musk is eager to bring Tesla and SpaceX together, calling the car a "mashup of the two tech teams."
Gary Black, managing director at The Future Fund, had warned before the show that markets would likely greet it with disappointment because of overhype. Musk, who said the Roadster would eventually be Tesla's only manually driven car, conceded it is "not necessarily a safety-optimized car." Asked by a spectator whether it was street legal, he replied: "It depends on your street."
Musk's Roadster Delays
Thursday's show capped nearly nine years of missed deadlines.
Tesla first showed the second-generation Roadster in November 2017, promising a 1.9-second sprint to 60 mph, a 620-mile range, a $200,000 base price and deliveries in 2020. Musk later set an Apr. 1, 2026, demo date, then moved it to late April before it slipped to August or later. Even the Oct. 1 event was reportedly pushed back two weeks because of high winds.
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