At a Waco, Texas event, Tesla demonstrated an upgraded Roadster prototype that drove up a vertical ramp using downforce, flipped using cold-gas thrusters supplied by SpaceX, and briefly flew over other Tesla models. Elon Musk said the car could hit 60mph in under a second and reiterated a 2028 production target, but gave no pricing or release details.
Tesla plans to reveal its next-generation Roadster on Thursday at a SpaceX test facility in McGregor, Texas, nearly ten years after it began collecting deposits for the car. The company recently reopened $50,000 reservations in the U.S., Canada and China, and executives are expected to share pricing, specifications and production targets at the event.
Tesla is set to unveil its long-delayed next-generation Roadster at an event scheduled for 8:55PM ET on October 15. The car was first previewed in 2017 with claimed specs of a 620-mile range and 0-60mph in 1.9 seconds, but its launch has been repeatedly postponed since a planned 2020 debut. CEO Elon Musk has teased the event on X, suggesting it will include a dramatic demonstration.
Tesla is holding what it calls its final unveiling event for a human-driven vehicle, finally showing the production Roadster 2 six years after its promised launch date. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2026, nearly nine years after Elon Musk first announced the car in 2017.
Tesla is expected to debut a production-ready version of the next-generation Roadster at an event in Waco, Texas, nearly ten years after Elon Musk first announced plans for the car. Musk has claimed the Roadster will accelerate from 0-60mph in under two seconds, hit a top speed above 250mph, and offer an optional SpaceX-designed thruster package. Several early reservation holders, including Sam Altman and Marques Brownlee, had already canceled their orders, assuming the car would never ship.
Georgetown space law professor Steve Mirmina argues in a new paper, published Sept. 19 in Air and Space Law, that no US agency has legal authority to regulate what companies send to the lunar surface. He cites examples including Celestis's $3,495 pet-ashes memorials, a beverage company's drink-shaped payload, Jeff Koons's 125 mini-sculptures tied to NFTs, and a crowdfunded cross, noting humans have left roughly 500,000 pounds of material on the moon.
Tesla has rescheduled the unveiling of its second-generation Roadster from October 1 to October 15, citing forecasts of severe weather in Waco, Texas. The company said the event must be held outdoors, and cited close monitoring with local meteorologists in deciding to delay.
Tesla has reopened reservations for its long-delayed Roadster, requiring a $5,000 refundable deposit followed by an additional $45,000 wire transfer within 10 days. The company plans to unveil the car's pricing, specifications and production timeline at an event near Waco, Texas on October 1, having first taken $50,000 deposits for the same car back in 2017.
Tesla announced via its official X account that the next Roadster will finally be unveiled on October 10, nearly a decade after the original 2017 prototype debut. The company's website now shows a countdown teasing possible SpaceX-derived thruster hardware, following earlier reports that the car could include flight-like capabilities.
Tesla posted a teaser on X reading "Go for launch" with a graphic pointing to an October 1 date for unveiling its next Roadster. The vehicle, first announced in 2017, has faced repeated delays, and reports indicate the original design has been scrapped for a completely new one set to debut at this event.