Elon Musk has spent much of the past decade talking up the new Tesla Roadster, at one point declaring: “ The new Tesla Roadster is a candidate for greatest product demo of all time”. On Friday, he finally put that claim to the test, and the reveal lived up to the hype.
At The Space X Rocket Development and Testing Facility McGregor, Texas, the Tesla chief unveiled the next-gen Roadster in a spectacle that even his harshest critics would struggle not to acknowledge. Before the event, images of a huge inverted skateboard-style ramp had leaked. Around 8pm local time, those clues made sense as Musk’s long-promised demonstration unfolded.
To open the show, Musk told the crowd: “You are going to see some crazy stuff tonight,” before adding, “We need an audience to prove it’s not AI or SI so you can tell people you saw it with your own eyes”.
Then came the moment that defined the night. The futuristic white Roadster accelerated up the steep ramp, drove upside down, activated its thrusters, spun in the air and flew through the sky trailing white smoke before landing back on the ground.
After the stunt, Musk said: “Flying cars are real,” following a display in which the vehicle did what no car had done before. He continued: “Someone said to me a while back, the future promised us flying car instead we got 140 characters, well not any more
“It’s got altitude controls, thrustrers and main thrusters in the rear. So it can basically fly like a rocket, it can do rolls, crazy gymnastics.
“I should say it’s not necessarily a safety optimised car but it takes the fun meter to 11.”
Musk said the new model was developed as a collaboration between engineers from Tesla and Space X.
The event also included a live solo drag race. Tesla’s official testers said the Roadster went from 0-100 km/h in less than 1s, specifically 0.81s. If accurate, that would make it the fastest production car in history.
Tesla has not disclosed a price for the vehicle. Musk’s only comment on that was that it will be “buyable”.
The Roadster is due to enter production in 2028. Engineers said its top speed is around 370kmh, while Musk said his target was for it to reach half the speed of sound, about 617kmh.
The demonstration lasted about half an hour and ended with the Roadster completing more stunts, including flying over five Tesla vehicles, among them the new Tesla semi.
The history of the Roadster stretches back to Tesla’s beginnings. The company was founded in 2003, and the first-generation Tesla Roadster went into production in March 2008. That version could do 0-100kmh in 3.7s. Production ended in 2012 when Tesla’s contract with Lotus expired, after 2,450 units were sold worldwide.
Musk had first spoken in November 2017 about a next-generation Roadster concept, saying it would have a top speed of 402kmh and go from 0-100kmh in 1.9s. Friday’s unveiling suggested those ambitions have since become even more extreme.
