Tesla just unveiled its redesigned second-generation Roadster powered by SpaceX powertrains, a vehicle that CEO Elon Musk has called “the best of the latest human-driven cars.” Musk showed off the car at an event outside Waco, Texas, with a demonstration in which the car used a combination of high-powered fans and thrusters to drive up an inverted ramp, spin and land on the pavement below. The car also used the thrusters to lift itself over a Cybercab, Cybertruck, Tesla Semi, Model Y and Model 3 while in motion. “This is going to be the real car that’s going to be on the roads,” Musk said of the car, which Tesla showed accelerating from 0 to 60 miles per hour in one second. “You will literally just puff up and be able to do these maneuvers whenever you want.” Musk said Tesla will finally build the long-delayed vehicle in 2028, but did not mention pricing. Tesla will offer it in three versions. The first is “Performance,” which Tesla describes as “road-ready.” It seats two, has active aerodynamics and features a “multi-mode suction system for next-level performance on and off the track.” The second version is the “Thrust,” which is “race-ready” and seats two, and has rear-mounted cold gas thrusters that enable 0-60 mph acceleration in less than a second. The third is “Rocket”, which is “air-ready” and can accommodate one person and 10 cold gas thrusters placed around the car. All three models will have a range of 300 miles and can reach speeds in excess of 230 miles per hour. Tesla’s website showed Thursday that the company is taking reservations for the car, charging $50,000 just to reserve the Performance and $250,000 for the Thrust. The Rocket version is advertised as “by invitation only.” Tesla Roadster-starmanImage credits: Tesla / Vice President of Engineering Lars Moravy said at the event that the Roadster uses 10 thrusters connected to 600 liters of compressed air to lift and rotate the car in the air. The air tank can be recharged, he stated. “Every usable vacuum in the car is filled with carbon fiber wrapped pressure vessels (COPVs),” Tesla wrote in a post on X, referring to the type of pressure vessel that has been at the root of multiple SpaceX rocket explosions. The company said that “all usable spaces” in the car are filled with these containers. Musk also said at the event that Tesla could try jumping the Snake River Canyon, the site of Evel Knievel’s famous attempt to cross the gorge in a steam-powered rocket. Musk has positioned the Roadster as a true halo car for Tesla, saying at one point that he’s “not sure it will move the needle enormously from a revenue standpoint.” But he had previously said that “safety is not the main objective” of the new Roadster. “If you buy a Ferrari, safety is not the number one goal. I say, if safety is your number one goal, don’t buy the Roadster,” he said in a podcast earlier this year. Tesla “would aim to not kill anyone in this car,” he said. “This is the culmination of the incredible work of Tesla and SpaceX engineers working closely together to make something you haven’t seen in any movie, better than any James Bond car,” Musk said at the event. “I’ve never seen anything like this. You know, when I suggested this to the team, I thought, ‘Am I crazy?'” The design changes were notable. The car, shown in pure white, now has a more angular design reminiscent of a Lamborghini or the famous Lotus Esprit used by James Bond’s character in The Spy Who Loved Me, a car Musk owns and which was on display at the event. In another post, Tesla said the design was inspired by the SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft and the F-35 fighter jet. “Our design language has evolved since the last reveal: from S3XY to Cybertruck, Cybercab and Optimus,” the company wrote. Tesla held the event almost nine years to the day the company first revealed the second-generation Roadster, a modernized version of its first car. Unveiled as a surprise at the end of the Tesla Semi’s reveal in 2017, the refreshed Roadster was supposed to be delivered in just a few years. Tesla allowed customers to make deposits of $50,000 to reserve the car. Some even paid $250,000 to reserve one of the 1,000 “Founders Series” versions. Musk first talked about adding boosters to the car in 2018. “SpaceX’s options package for the new Tesla Roadster will include ~10 small rocket boosters arranged neatly around the car,” he wrote on Twitter that year. “These rocket motors dramatically improve acceleration, top speed, braking and cornering. Maybe they’ll even allow a Tesla to fly…” But the Roadster project took a backseat. In 2018, Tesla suffered what Musk ultimately called “production hell” with the Model 3 sedan. The company then moved on to other projects such as the Model Y SUV, which became the best-selling vehicle in the world, and the Cybertruck, which was a commercial failure by Tesla’s own standards. Along the way, Musk delayed the new Roadster to 2020, 2021, 2023, and 2024. As more time passed after the release of those new vehicles, Musk began talking about the second-generation Roadster again. Late last year, he said on Joe Rogan’s podcast that he wanted to reveal it by the end of 2025. A week later, at the shareholder meeting where he was awarded a $1 billion pay package, he delayed it until April 1, 2026. Musk said holding an April Fool’s Day event would give him “some denial” if Tesla delayed the event again. “I could tell he was joking,” he said at the time. Tesla ended up delaying the reveal again. He attempted to hold the event on October 1, but bad weather forced another delay. These repeated delays caused several high-profile customers to speak out over the years, including YouTuber Marques Brownlee and OpenAI director Sam Altman. “They actually came on stage and said this newly designed 4,000+ pound car can spin and reach half the speed of sound (over 380 mph) and will ship in 2028,” Brownlee posted Thursday. “This is a joke, right?” When you buy through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This does not affect our editorial independence.
