The Tesla Roadster unveiled on Thursday, 15 October 2026, uses cold-gas thrusters to jump and flip, but Tesla has not announced a price and production is not due before 2027.
According to Electrek, Tesla showed a redesigned car in a stunt-led livestream and posted the trim details on X afterwards.
Reservations have reopened at $50 000, about R810 000 at the September average of R16.21 to the dollar, with $5 000 due at once and the remaining $45 000 due within 10 days.
What can the Tesla Roadster do?
Tesla describes three versions, and every figure is the company’s own claim. The Performance trim is road-ready with two seats and is claimed to reach 60 mph (97 km/h) in under 1.6 seconds.
The Thrust trim adds rear-mounted thrusters and is claimed to take under 0.9 seconds. Tesla treats Thrust and Rocket as add-ons to the Performance car, and Thrust has a limited release.
The Rocket trim has one seat, a claimed time of under 0.59 seconds and a top speed above 230 mph (370 km/h). It is invite-only and not approved for public roads. Cold-gas thrusters push the car with compressed gas released through nozzles, with no fuel burned, and Tesla says carbon-fibre pressure vessels store the gas.
How does the Tesla Roadster compare with the 2017 promise?
Tesla first showed the car in November 2017 with a range of 620 miles (about 1 000 km), a top speed above 250 mph and four seats in a 2+2 layout.
The new car is quoted at a range above 300 miles (about 483 km), a top speed above 230 mph and two seats at most.
The car also has a Track Mode that lowers the body and deploys wings, using actuators developed for Optimus, Tesla’s humanoid robot, and Tesla describes the downforce as approaching Formula 1 levels.
A fan-based suction system is claimed to hold it upside down on a curved ramp, a feat Elon Musk summed up with a blunt line:
“Flying cars are real.”
When will the Tesla Roadster be built?
Reports differ on timing. One account has Musk answering “2028, actually” when asked for a production date. Another has production at Giga Texas in 2027 or 2028, 12 to 18 months after the demo.
Tesla also claimed 0 to 60 mph in 0.81 seconds at the event, and no live timing was shown.
Musk called the Roadster “the best of the last of the human-driven cars”, and he said he was not sure it “moves the needle massively from a revenue standpoint”.
Tesla reports third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, 21 October 2026.
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