Elon Musk Reveals a Flying Futuristic Tesla Roadster Supercar

The Roadster has, in the end, taken off — fairly actually.

Tesla unveiled its next-generation Roadster at a livestreamed occasion Thursday evening, giving clients who’ve waited years their first recent take a look at the EV maker’s new halo automobile.

In a dramatic demonstration, the Roadster traveled up an enormous curved ramp till it was the wrong way up. The automobile then flew off the ramp, flipped, and landed safely on the bottom, because of thrusters hooked up to the underside of the automobile.

“Well, it labored,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk mentioned after it efficiently landed.

“Flying automobiles are actual,” Lars Moravy, Tesla’s VP of auto engineering, added.

Musk known as the most recent Roadster a results of a collaboration with Tesla and SpaceX engineers.

The Tesla CEO mentioned the automobile makes use of an “superior ultra-high strain air tank” to elevate itself.

“The automobile has clearly altitude management thrusters and primary thrusters within the rear, so it may possibly principally fly like a rocket, and it might do rolls,” he mentioned.

In a separate recorded demonstration proven on display, Tesla additionally confirmed the Roadster hitting 60 mph in beneath one second, marking .81 seconds.

Tesla shared extra stats in regards to the Roadster on X: a two-seater with about 300 miles of vary and a high pace over 230 mph. Some of the configurations additionally seem to rely upon whether or not the Roadster is provided with “rocket” thrusters. For instance, if the automobile is “air prepared” and has the rocket, the Roadster seats just one.

There are additionally small particulars in regards to the Roadster that notably diverge from Tesla’s signature design selections.

The Roadster’s door latches, for instance, look like mechanical. Typical Tesla automobiles are recognized for his or her electronic door latches, which China is clamping down on attributable to security dangers.

The halo automobile additionally seems to lack side-view mirrors, which raises the query of how the Roadster will probably be street-legal beneath federal requirements.

Tesla’s web site lists three configurations of the automobile for buy: efficiency, thrust, and rocket. The efficiency trim requires an instantaneous $5,000 deposit, with an extra $45,000 due in 10 days. The thrust model requires a $250,000 deposit. The rocket trim seems to be accessible solely via “invite solely.”

Musk mentioned the Roadster would be the solely Tesla automobile meant to be pushed manually and that it isn’t “essentially a safety-optimized automobile.”

An observant viewers member on the occasion additionally requested a obvious query: Is it avenue authorized?

“Depends in your avenue,” Musk mentioned. “It’ll be a viable automobile.”

The lengthy highway behind

The revived nameplate has been a very long time coming.

The unique Roadster was Tesla’s first manufacturing automobile, launching in California in 2008. It used a chassis derived from British sports-car maker Lotus’ Elise, however changed its gasoline engine with an all-electric powertrain. That mannequin ended manufacturing in 2012.

Musk shocked audiences in November 2017 at an occasion for Tesla’s Semi truck by unveiling a second-generation Roadster. At the time, Tesla mentioned the two-door sports activities automobile would have a 1.9-second zero-to-60-mph time, a high pace above 250 mph, greater than 600 miles of vary, and a gargantuan 200-kilowatt-hour battery pack.

That month, clients might put down a $50,000 deposit to order a Roadster, or pay $250,000 upfront for a Founders Series mannequin.

Musk additionally floated a SpaceX bundle for the supercar with cold-gas thrusters that he mentioned would possibly “enable a Tesla to fly.”

With the wait time creeping towards a decade, Musk apologized to “long-suffering” deposit holders in an earnings name, including that Tesla was focusing closely on its robotics and autonomy packages.

“Roadster is not only icing on the cake; it is the cherry on the icing on the cake,” he mentioned on the time. “We are engaged on it, nevertheless it has to return behind the issues which have a extra critical impression on the international stage.”

Tesla started ramping up the Roadster’s design cycle in the summertime of 2025, Business Insider beforehand reported.

Musk had been hyping Thursday’s livestreamed event on X. He claimed that occasion can be “a candidate for biggest product demo of all time” and that “the entire international stage will watch this.”