Tesla Roadster Reveal: Next-Gen EV After 9-Year Delay
The tesla roadster reveal is finally happening Thursday, October 15, nearly nine years after Tesla first showed a next-generation version of its electric sports car, according to Reuters.
Tesla revealed a prototype of the $200,000 car in 2017 and promised deliveries would begin in 2020. That date slipped repeatedly, with the price never updated and $50,000 reservations still on the books. The company moved the demonstration from an initial October 1 date to October 15, citing severe weather concerns in Texas, where the event is planned at SpaceX’s McGregor test site.
A Hover Demo, Not a Drive
Rather than a traditional driving debut, the Thursday event is planned as an outdoor livestream demonstration centered on a driverless hover showcase using cold-gas thrusters. The event is set for 7:55 pm Central, according to Hypebeast, which confirmed the automaker’s announcement on X. A recently published patent describes a hidden active rear wing generating up to 700 kilograms of downforce, suggesting real engineering work behind the spectacle.
Musk has pushed the performance claims far beyond the original pitch. In 2017, he promised a four-seat car with 620 miles of range on a single charge. In a 2024 post on X, he said the car had been redesigned and would accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in under a second, adding that it was a collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX — and calling that “the least interesting part.”
A Halo Car, Not a Money Maker
Chief Executive Elon Musk has played down the car’s financial importance, calling it a “small potato situation” in 2023 that would not move the needle financially. But analysts say it carries symbolic weight: Tesla has no halo car, and the Roadster would become the showcase for the company’s best engineering.
Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein expects Tesla to sell around 2,000 Roadsters a year, a fraction of the 1.6 million vehicles the company sold last year. The original Roadster, sold from 2008 to 2012, was Tesla’s first-ever EV and helped change the world’s view of what an electric car could be. Its successor arrives as Tesla shifts focus toward AI-led self-driving technology and robotics.
Source: Reuters / CNBC