After nearly a decade of delays, Tesla’s (TSLA) next-generation Roadster has finally been unveiled. On Thursday local time, Tesla held a livestreamed launch event at SpaceX’s rocket testing site in McGregor, Texas. Musk opened by saying that the event would showcase the achievements of collaboration between a top automaker and a rocket company, and that the Roadster is not just an electric supercar, but a product combining automotive engineering with SpaceX rocket technology.
The launch presentation was highly visually striking. A white two-seat sports car shot up a ramp, flipped upside down in midair, briefly hovered, and then landed. Moravy introduced that the vehicle’s underside is equipped with a fan suction system to enhance downforce and grip. The Roadster also relies on compressed air thrusters to achieve airborne leaps, completing a stunt in which it jumped over Tesla’s entire lineup of vehicles. Some demonstrations came close to vertical takeoff, partially fulfilling Musk’s years of talk about flying cars.
The car’s performance specifications are extremely aggressive, with a zero-to-60 mph acceleration time of just 0.81 seconds, a rated top speed of 230 mph, and a longer-term target top speed of Mach 0.5. The new car is equipped with steer-by-wire, an active rear wing, a fixed in-cabin seating posture, copper-tinted glass, and a paint finish claimed to be optimized for the space environment. Its exterior has changed noticeably compared with the 2017 prototype, shifting from a rounded, streamlined form to a sharp wedge-shaped design with a classic supercar silhouette, and the design has proven highly controversial.
This car has a long history of repeated delays. The first-generation Roadster was delivered in 2008, proving that electric cars can also be fun to drive. The second-generation Roadster concept was unveiled in 2017 and reservations were opened, with a $50,000 deposit for the standard version and a $250,000 deposit for the Founders Series. It was originally scheduled to enter production in 2020, but the delivery plan was postponed repeatedly. Tesla recently reopened reservations in the United States, Canada, and China. This launch event did not announce a price and only confirmed production in 2028. The demonstration originally scheduled for October 1 was canceled due to weather.
Analysts believe the Roadster will contribute limited sales, positioning it as a high-end, low-volume model benchmarked against high-performance vehicles such as Porsche and Ferrari, but its high profit margin is expected to bring considerable revenue. Estimates show that if 7,000 units are sold in the first year, it could generate nearly $2 billion in annual revenue. Some investors are skeptical of the car’s value, believing it is likely just a limited-edition gimmick product, while the market needs more affordable electric vehicles. Musk has also admitted that the Roadster will have little financial impact on Tesla.
Although the launch event attracted a great deal of attention, many questions remain externally, and regulatory approval, technological implementation, and mass-production feasibility all remain to be verified. The use of cold-gas thrusters on public roads poses safety and legal risks, and the hovering function has also been questioned over practicality and cost. If it ultimately cannot be delivered in the state shown in the demonstration, the Roadster may be regarded as an overpromised pie in the sky; if it successfully comes to fruition, it will be a bold attempt in the field of mass-production vehicles. Tesla will release its third-quarter earnings after U.S. market close next Wednesday, and the market will focus on how it balances its long-term vision with current business pressures.
