Tesla Roadster revealed with SpaceX thrusters and flying demo, production targeted for 2028

The reveal: thrusters, a flip and a 2028 production target

Tesla has unveiled a redesigned Roadster developed with CEO Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX, demonstrating the electric sports car at a SpaceX test site in McGregor, Texas. Reuters reports the white two-seater drove upside down on a ramp using a suction system, turned in the air and landed using built-in thrusters, and later used them to jump over a truck and other vehicles. Musk said at the event "We enter production in 2028", according to Yahoo Finance, putting the second-generation Roadster roughly 11 years after the prototype was first shown in November 2017. ⁵²⁴

The event had originally been set for October 1 but was pushed back two weeks. Yahoo Finance reports Tesla attributed the delay to weather conditions at the demo site, at SpaceX's Rocket Development and Testing facility near Waco, Texas. ²³

Reuters reported that the reveal gives Tesla a showpiece car after years of missed Roadster deadlines, but noted it comes as the company shifts focus to self-driving technology and robotics, days before its October 21 third-quarter results. The agency also noted some watchers saw the SpaceX collaboration as Musk drumming up interest in a merger of the two companies he controls, an idea he has explored by discussing their overlap. ⁵

Performance claims and the sub-second sprint

Tesla vehicle engineering chief Lars Moravy said the Roadster can accelerate from zero to 60mph (about 97km/h) in less than one second and reach a top speed of over 230mph (about 370km/h), according to Reuters. A demonstration run livestreamed at the event recorded a claimed 0.81-second time, as reported by CarExpert. Yahoo Finance lists official claimed figures by variant: under 1.6 seconds for the Performance, under 0.9 seconds for the Thrust and under 0.59 seconds for the Rocket. ⁵¹²

Musk indicated he expects more. Reuters reports he said the car was "definitely much faster than that" on top speed, adding: "I think you've got to crack halfway to the speed of sound." CarExpert noted that Mach 0.5 equates to about 617km/h, well beyond the 370km/h figure Moravy gave. The Independent reports Moravy told Musk "Challenge accepted, sir" in response. On the acceleration run, The Independent reported Musk said the production car would do better than the 0.81-second demonstration figure as force increases and mass decreases. ⁵¹⁴

Range is a substantial step back from the 2017 promises. Reuters reports the Roadster can travel over 300 miles (about 480km) on a single charge, less than half of what Musk promised in 2017, when Tesla claimed approximately 1000km of range alongside a 1.9-second 0-60mph time and a top speed exceeding 400km/h, as CarExpert also recounts. The Independent notes there was no mention at the event of battery capacity, maximum claimed range or charging speed. ⁵¹⁴

Three variants, from fan suction to full flight system

Tesla listed three Roadster variants. Yahoo Finance describes the Performance as road-ready with two seats and a multi-mode suction system; the Thrust as race-ready with two seats, the suction system and rear-mounted cold-gas thrusters enabling the sub-one-second 0-60mph claim; and the Rocket as air-ready with one seat, perimeter-mounted cold-gas thrusters for forward, upward acceleration and lateral rotation. CarExpert reports the invitation-only Rocket is described by Tesla as a single-seat model with a "full flight system". ²¹

The suction hardware is central to the car's grip. The Independent quotes Moravy saying the fan suction system under the car "can pull up to two Gs in order to make the car go upside down", with SpaceX technology borrowed for the rest. Tesla claims cornering forces greater than 2g, and CarExpert notes the fan system operates in Track mode, which also lowers the suspension. Moravy told The Independent the system sucks the car down at low speed for traction and opens front and rear sections at high speed, while an adjustable rear wing changes angle automatically according to calculated downforce needs. ⁴¹

The thruster hardware is fed by compressed air rather than rocket fuel. The Independent reports Moravy detailed two carbon-overwrapped pressure vessels totalling 600 litres, holding about 250 kilograms of air, feeding 10 nozzles. Tesla claims the four rear thrusters alone produce more than 80kN of thrust, with air exiting faster than the speed of sound, and Musk said the car can recharge its own air tanks rather than requiring any special propellant. Separate attitude-control thrusters manage the car's angle in the air, Musk told The Independent. ⁴

Reservations, pricing uncertainty and right-hand-drive markets

Tesla has not announced a purchase price for the new Roadster. Reuters reports no target prices were specified at the event, though Tesla quoted a base price of US$200,000 nearly a decade ago. CarExpert recounts that in 2017 Tesla announced a starting price of US$200,000 with a Founders Series at US$250,000. Yahoo Finance reports the car is expected to exceed US$250,000, though that remains an expectation rather than an announcement. ⁵¹²

Reservation requirements are published. CarExpert reports the Performance requires an initial US$5,000 deposit followed by US$45,000 within 10 days, totalling US$50,000, while the Thrust requires US$5,000 initially plus US$245,000 within 10 days, totalling US$250,000. The Independent notes that US$50,000 total is a reservation payment, not the purchase price of the finished car. ¹⁴

There is no confirmed Australian launch. CarExpert reports Tesla's local website states the Roadster will be "Available as a Left-Hand Drive vehicle only", and The Independent similarly notes Tesla's UK website confirms left-hand drive only. Musk himself acknowledged the car might not be legal in every market, telling the audience, per The Independent: "I'm not sure it's necessarily legal in all jurisdictions, but there will be such a car that someone can own." Yahoo Finance adds there is no word yet on how the flight-capable Rocket version would be permitted on public roads. ¹⁴²

Interior, design and Tesla's last driver's car

The Roadster's interior features a steering yoke with steer-by-wire and brake-by-wire systems, with driver inputs transmitted electronically, as CarExpert and The Independent both report. The seats are moulded into the chassis, which Tesla says helps reduce weight. Chief designer Franz von Holzhausen told the event, per The Independent, that the design leaned into aerospace aesthetics inspired by aircraft including the SR-71, with the rear diffuser housing the fans and thrusters. Von Holzhausen also declared, as CarExpert reported: "Today marks the day that we build the first world's best flying car and the last best driver's car." ¹⁴

Musk positioned the Roadster as an exception to Tesla's autonomous direction. CarExpert and The Independent both quote him saying it will "actually be long-term the only manually driven car that Tesla makes". Reuters notes this year Tesla stopped selling the Model S and X to make room for Optimus humanoid robot production, and launched the Cybercab robotaxi without manual controls. The Independent also reports the stunt demonstrations were run autonomously for safety, with a Starman figure aboard rather than a human driver, echoing the original Roadster that Musk sent into space aboard a SpaceX test flight in 2018, as The Verge recounts. ¹⁴⁵⁶

A long wait and a wary market backdrop

The original Roadster, released in 2008 and on sale until 2012, was Tesla's first EV and used a Lotus Elise chassis, as Reuters and Yahoo Finance both recount. Tesla announced its successor in 2017, took reservations and originally said deliveries would begin in 2020, leaving initial reservation holders waiting for years. The Verge reports several early reservation holders, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and YouTuber Marques Brownlee, cancelled their orders in the interim. ⁵²⁶

The Verge, in analysis published ahead of the reveal, argued the Roadster arrives in a difficult EV market in which automakers are scaling back plans and previous electric hypercars such as the Rimac Nevera, Pininfarina Battista and Lotus Evija faced low volumes, delays and weak demand. Reuters quoted Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein as saying in a note last month that Tesla lacks a halo car and "the Roadster will be Tesla's new halo car", while investor Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management called the event "an engineering flex with no commercial value beyond embarrassing traditional car makers" in a social media post cited by Reuters. Reuters also noted Musk described the car in 2023 as a "small potato situation" that would not move Tesla's finances in a major way. ⁶⁵