Tesla revealed its redesigned second generation Roadster at an event outside Waco, Texas, demonstrating a car that uses high powered fans and cold gas thrusters to drive up an inverted ramp, spin and land, and to lift itself over other Tesla vehicles while in motion, TechCrunch reported. Chief executive Elon Musk said Tesla will build the car in 2028 and called it the best of the last of the human driven cars. No price was named.
Tesla will offer three trims, Performance, Thrust and Rocket, all with 300 miles of range and top speeds above 230 miles per hour, the company said. The Thrust trim carries rear mounted cold gas thrusters for sub one second zero to 60 acceleration, and the Rocket trim, offered by invitation only, seats one and carries 10 thrusters. Reservations cost 50,000 dollars for Performance and 250,000 dollars for Thrust. Engineering vice president Lars Moravy said the car uses 10 thrusters connected to 600 litres of compressed air stored in carbon fibre overwrapped pressure vessels packed into the car’s voids.
The reveal lands almost nine years after the car was first shown in 2017, after delays in 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024 and a reveal date pushed from April and then October 1 this year by weather. Musk has said the Roadster is a halo car that may not move the revenue needle massively. Tesla shares fell 1.29 percent in the latest session in the site market tables, on a day when the stock specific news was the spectacle itself.