Nine years after Tesla teased a second-generation Roadster as a “one more thing” at the 2017 Semi event, the thing finally showed up. And it did not just show up. On Thursday night, October 15, at SpaceX’s test site in McGregor, Texas, a white Roadster prototype drove up a giant inverted ramp, peeled off on thrusters, rolled in the air and settled back onto the pavement in a cloud of white smoke. Then it jumped a Tesla Semi. Car shows are going to be very boring for a while.
What actually happened on that ramp
Tesla says a fan and ground-sealing system pulls air from under the car hard enough to hold it upside down. Car and Driver reported Tesla’s claim of 2 g of suction. Once the prototype ran out of ramp, SpaceX-built cold-gas thrusters took over and carried it forward through the roll and down to a soft landing. Car and Driver reported the thrusters are said to make more than 80 kilonewtons. They run on compressed gas stored in carbon-fiber overwrapped pressure vessels packed into, per Tesla, “every usable void in the car.” No jet fuel. Just a lot of very angry air.
“It can basically fly like a rocket,” Musk told the crowd, according to Car and Driver. He also said, “This is not necessarily a safety-optimized car.” You don’t say.
Over the Semi, sideways
Later in the show, the prototype used its thrusters to hop over a lineup of Teslas while moving. TechCrunch counted a Cybercab, Cybertruck, Semi, Model Y and Model 3, and Reuters said it twisted in the air on the way over. Tesla posted the clip with the caption “Do a kickflip!”
0-60 in under a second, on camera
This was the promise Musk has been dangling for years, and the prototype was shown making acceleration runs at the event. Car and Driver says the first run was clocked at a claimed one second flat. Musk was reminded he had promised under a second, so they ran it again. Tesla now says that run was 0-60 mph in 0.81 seconds, or 0.67 seconds with rollout subtracted. These are Tesla’s own timings. Nobody independent has strapped a VBOX to it yet. The trick is the rear-mounted cold-gas thrusters. Tesla says the thruster system makes four to five times the force the tires can handle, so the car stops being limited by grip.
Three Roadsters, one of them invite-only
After the show, Tesla listed three configurations. Performance is road-ready and seats two, with active aero and the multi-mode suction system. Thrust is “race ready,” seats two, and adds the rear cold-gas thrusters that enable the sub-one-second run. Rocket is invite-only and single-seat, with perimeter thrusters that Tesla says give it a “full flight system.” Reuters reported Tesla’s reservation page asks for a $50,000 deposit on Performance and $250,000 on Thrust.
Lars Moravy, Tesla’s vehicle engineering chief, quoted a top speed over 230 mph and range over 300 miles, according to Reuters. That range is less than half of the 620 miles promised in 2017. Tesla did not announce a price. Musk said production starts in 2028. That is eight years after the original 2020 delivery target, so plan your garage accordingly.
Tesla says the design draws on the SR-71 and the F-35. The active rear wing has high-drag and high-downforce modes, and Tesla claims passive downforce “approaching F1 levels.” One caveat Car and Driver caught: the car that flew had Cybercab-style hubcaps, while the car on stage had different wheels. These were prototypes, not the car you can reserve.
The clutch question
Let’s be straight about it. There’s no clutch here and no gearbox to row. The Roadster is an EV, so a manual transmission was never on the table, and Tesla didn’t pretend otherwise. What Tesla is selling is involvement. It calls the Roadster “the last best driver’s car” and “the best of the last human-driven cars,” and lists “manual controls” and a fixed seat to save weight. Musk said it will eventually be the only Tesla you drive yourself. That’s a fine thing to aim for. But a thruster button is not a third pedal, and if your idea of a driver’s car means heel-and-toe downshifts, this one still won’t give you that.
The fine print
Everything above was a stunt-show demonstration of prototypes, and every number is Tesla’s claim until someone tests a production car. Musk said himself the car may not be “legal in all jurisdictions.” He has also missed Roadster deadlines since 2020. Still, Tesla put a car upside down, then in the air, then past 60 in less time than it takes to say “reservation deposit.” We’ll believe the 2028 date when we see it. But we did see it fly.
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