Tesla has finally shown its long-awaited second-generation Roadster, a two-seat electric sports car that the company says can briefly leave the ground with the help of rocket-style thrusters developed with SpaceX.
Elon Musk presented the car on October 15 at a livestreamed event in Texas, after Tesla pushed the date back from October 1 because of severe rain. On stage with Lars Moravy, Tesla’s vice president of vehicle engineering, Musk showed the Roadster climbing a curved ramp, turning upside down, leaving the end of the ramp, flipping in the air and landing again.
Moravy said a fan system under the car creates suction of up to two times the force of gravity, which keeps it pressed to the surface even when it is inverted. Musk said the Roadster carries attitude control thrusters and main thrusters at the rear, allowing it to “basically fly like a rocket.”
Tesla also repeated its performance claims for the car. According to Musk, some versions will reach 60 miles per hour from a standstill in less than one second, and top speed will exceed 230 miles per hour. Tesla staged a run during the event to demonstrate the sub-one-second acceleration.
Musk said production will start in 2028. The Roadster was first announced in 2017 with a planned launch in 2020, and the unveiling of the final design slipped several times, most recently from April 2026 to October.
Independent experts urged caution over the flying claims. The chief executive of Alef, a company developing its own flying car, told CNN he was not surprised that Tesla could lift the Roadster off the ground in a demonstration, but said that does not mean the car can truly fly. Tesla has not published certified figures for range or battery size.
The company has also not announced a final price for the production Roadster. When the car was first shown in 2017, Tesla quoted a base price of $200,000, about 750,000 riyals, and $250,000, about 937,500 riyals, for a limited Founders Series of 1,000 cars paid in full in advance. Yahoo Finance reported after the event that the final price is expected to be above $250,000.
