Tesla finally showed off its next-generation Roadster on Thursday night, nearly nine years after first taking $50,000 deposits for it. At a SpaceX test site near Waco, Texas, the car raced up a curved ramp, clung to it upside down, flipped in midair and hovered before landing, using thrusters borrowed from SpaceX. What Tesla didn’t show: a price.
Elon Musk said production will start in 2028, “actually,” Electrek reported. Tesla has missed every Roadster delivery date since 2017, when it promised cars by 2020.
What can the new Tesla Roadster do?
Tesla is offering three versions, according to details it posted after the event:
- Performance: road-legal, two seats, 0-60 mph in under 1.6 seconds, with a fan “suction system” that pulls the car to the road.
- Thrust: adds rear cold-gas thrusters for 0-60 in under 0.9 seconds. Limited release.
- Rocket: one seat, thrusters all around for upward and spinning moves, 0-60 in under 0.59 seconds and a top speed over 230 mph. Invite only, and not approved for public roads.
Tesla quotes more than 300 miles of range, well short of the 620 miles it promised in 2017. The car has a steering yoke and steer-by-wire, and no Full Self-Driving. Musk said it will be the last Tesla meant to be driven by a human, CNBC reported.
How much does the Tesla Roadster cost?
Tesla hasn’t said. Reservations are open again: $5,000 down, plus another $45,000 within 10 days, or the reservation is canceled. That’s the same $50,000 Tesla asked for in 2017. The original Roadster sold for roughly $100,000 from 2008 to 2012, and analysts don’t expect the new one to make a meaningful difference to Tesla’s finances either way.
The BeezLoop Take
The stunts were genuinely fun to watch. A car that holds itself upside down on a ramp is wild engineering. But this was a show, not a product launch: no price, no production line, and specs that have shrunk since the original promise.
People have had $50,000 sitting with Tesla for close to a decade, and now they’re being asked for it again on a 2028 promise from a CEO who has missed this deadline over and over. Fans will love it. Buyers should read the fine print.
The open question: will a road-legal Roadster actually reach a customer in 2028, and at what price?
Also on BeezLoop: Rivian’s recall of nearly 99,000 vehicles, and why car service is getting slower and pricier.
Sources: CNBC · Electrek · CNET (video)
