Quick answer: Tesla unveiled its long-delayed second-generation Roadster on Thursday, 15 October 2026, at SpaceX’s rocket test site in McGregor, Texas. In a livestreamed demo, the white two-seater drove upside down on a curved ramp using a suction system, flipped in midair and landed with cold-gas thrusters, then leapt over a row of Tesla vehicles. Tesla says it will hit 0-60 mph in under a second, top 230 mph and go 300+ miles per charge, with production starting in 2028. Reservations cost $50,000 or $250,000 depending on the version, and no final prices have been announced.
Few car reveals turn into memes within hours. This one did. Clips of a Tesla hanging upside down on a ramp and then hopping over a Cybertruck spread across social media, and plenty of viewers asked whether the footage was real. “That was the most insane product demo I’ve ever seen,” Tesla investor Sawyer Merritt posted on X, as quoted by Reuters via CBC. “I just saw this in person, and I’m still asking how this wasn’t AI.” Here is what Tesla actually showed, what it costs to get in line, and what is still unknown.
What happened at the Roadster reveal
The event took place at SpaceX’s test facility near Waco, with dramatic music, smoke and a launch countdown, according to Reuters. The car, developed with engineers from Elon Musk’s rocket company, drove up a C-shaped ramp and paused upside down, held in place by a fan-driven suction system. It then launched off the ramp, rolled 180 degrees using bursts of compressed air and landed on its wheels, Fortune reported.
Moments later it used its thrusters to jump over a lineup of Tesla vehicles that included a Cybertruck and a Tesla Semi, twisting in the air as it went. “Turns out the future does have flying cars,” Musk wrote on X afterwards.
“This is the culmination of incredible work by Tesla and SpaceX engineers working closely together to make something that you haven’t seen in any movie,” Musk told the crowd of fans and investors.
Nobody was driving
One detail many viewers missed: there was no person behind the wheel. Fortune reported that the seat held a mannequin in a SpaceX spacesuit, a nod to the “Starman” dummy that rode Musk’s original Roadster into space aboard the first Falcon Heavy launch in 2018. Musk said the demo ran autonomously “to make sure we don’t kill anyone.”
Tesla Roadster specs: what Tesla claims
Tesla vehicle engineering chief Lars Moravy gave the headline numbers on stage, according to Reuters:
- 0-60 mph: under one second
- Top speed: more than 230 mph (370 km/h)
- Range: more than 300 miles (480 km) per charge
- Thrusters: cold-gas units running on about 600 litres of rechargeable compressed air, per Fortune
- Production: scheduled to start in 2028
Musk went further than his own engineer on top speed. “Definitely much faster than that,” he said. “I think you’ve got to crack halfway to the speed of sound.” These are company claims; no independent testing has been published.
Performance, Thrust and Rocket: the three versions
The new Roadster comes in three configurations, Fortune and Reuters reported:
- Performance: a “road ready” two-seater with active aerodynamics and the fan-driven suction system.
- Thrust: a two-seater that adds rear-mounted cold-gas thrusters for sub-one-second acceleration to 60 mph.
- Rocket: an invitation-only single-seater with 10 thrusters around the car and what Tesla calls a “full flight system,” able to briefly take off.
The airborne stunts were a prototype demonstration of short manoeuvres, not sustained flight. Tesla has not said how long or how far the car can stay in the air.
How much does the new Roadster cost?
Tesla has not announced final prices for any version. Nearly a decade ago it quoted a base price of $200,000. For now, its reservation page asks for a $50,000 deposit for the Performance model and $250,000 for Thrust. Engadget reported that the base reservation starts with $5,000, with the remaining $45,000 due within 10 days. The Rocket version is invitation-only, with no public reservation fee.
Fortune noted that Tesla has not said what happens to customers who put down deposits on the 2017 version of the car.
Can it legally fly on public roads?
Not yet. Tesla’s own site says the Rocket version is “not approved for public road use.” It is also unclear which regulator, if any, would oversee the flying features. The Federal Aviation Administration told CBS News and Politico that the car doesn’t meet its definition of an aircraft, so the agency would not need to certify it as airworthy, according to Fortune. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration largely relies on carmakers to certify that their vehicles meet federal standards, and the Transportation Department said NHTSA “will continue to monitor the situation.”
“I’m not sure every state is going to allow a driver in the middle of traffic to suddenly elevate himself and fly,” Georgetown Law professor David Vladeck told Reuters. “There is going to be a long process to let anything like that on a road.”
Musk himself didn’t pitch it as a family-safe car. “This is not necessarily a safety-optimized car, OK?” he said during the reveal.
Nine years late, and a very different car
When Tesla first showed a second-generation Roadster in November 2017, flying was not part of the plan. Fortune recalls that the company promised 0-60 mph in 1.9 seconds, four seats and 620 miles of range, with deliveries in 2020. It took $50,000 reservations, or $250,000 for one of 1,000 Founders Series cars.
The new car seats two at most, and its claimed range is less than half of the 2017 figure. Production is now set for 2028, eight years after the original target. The featured image above shows that earlier prototype, not the 2026 redesign.
The Roadster name goes back further still. The original Roadster, sold from 2008 to 2012, was Tesla’s first electric car and was built on a Lotus Elise chassis, Reuters noted.
Why the Roadster matters to Tesla
Analysts don’t expect the car to make much money. Musk called it a “small potato situation” in 2023, Reuters noted, and Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives wrote that it “will not move the volume or revenue needle,” according to Fortune, citing CBS News. Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management called it, in a post on X, “an engineering flex with no commercial value beyond embarrassing traditional car makers.”
Its role is closer to a halo car, a showpiece meant to signal what a company’s engineers can do. That matters at a time when Tesla is shifting its focus toward self-driving technology and robots. Reuters reported that Tesla stopped selling the Model S and Model X this year to make room for production of its Optimus humanoid robots, and launched the Cybercab, a two-seat robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals. Musk said that, in the long run, the Roadster will be “the only manually driven car that Tesla makes.”
The reveal also landed days before Tesla’s third-quarter results, which analysts say will matter far more to investors than any midair flip.
For more on how big tech bets are playing out this month, read about Apple and Meta teaming up to run AI locally on Mac Studios, Character.ai’s Chapter 11 filing and CERN and Mistral’s plan for an AI trained on particle collisions, or browse our Tech section.
Frequently asked questions
When was the new Tesla Roadster unveiled?
On Thursday, 15 October 2026, at SpaceX’s test facility in McGregor, Texas, near Waco. The event was livestreamed.
Can the new Tesla Roadster really fly?
Only briefly. In the demo it used cold-gas thrusters to flip and land and to jump over other vehicles. The invitation-only Rocket version has what Tesla calls a “full flight system,” but Tesla has not said how long it can stay airborne, and it is “not approved for public road use.”
How much does the Tesla Roadster cost?
Final prices have not been announced. Reservations require $50,000 for the Performance version and $250,000 for the Thrust version. The Rocket version is invitation-only.
When will the new Roadster be delivered?
Tesla says production will start in 2028. The second-generation Roadster was first promised for 2020.
How fast is the new Tesla Roadster?
Tesla claims 0-60 mph in under one second, a top speed above 230 mph and more than 300 miles of range. These figures have not been independently tested.
Sources: Reuters via CBC News; Fortune; Engadget.
Featured image: The second-generation Tesla Roadster prototype at Tesla HQ, 2019 by Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. This is the earlier prototype, not the 2026 redesign.
