Tesla's new Roadster turns in air with SpaceX thrusters, won't land until 2028

SAN FRANCISCO: Tesla unveiled a redesigned Roadster powered with rocket-style thrusters on Thursday (Oct 15) and said it would start production in 2028, more than a decade after it first showed a next-generation version of its electric sports car.

The white two-seater vehicle, developed in collaboration with CEO Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX, drove upside down on a ramp using a suction system, turned in the air and landed using built-in thrusters.

Later in the event it used the thrusters to jump over a truck and other vehicles, twisting in the air during the maneuver.

Some watchers saw the collaboration as Musk drumming up interest in a merger of the two big companies he controls, an idea he has explored by discussing their overlap.

The reveal gives Tesla a showpiece car after years of missed Roadster deadlines, but it comes as the company shifts its focus to self-driving technology and robotics, and days before third-quarter results that analysts say matter more to investors.

"It was an engineering flex with no commercial value beyond embarrassing traditional car makers," Gene Munster, managing partner at Tesla investor Deepwater Asset Management, said on social media platform X.

"The Roadster event is the latest example of why Elon can't wait to bring (Tesla) and (SpaceX) together," Munster said.

Musk has played down the car's importance to Tesla's finances, describing it in 2023 as a "small potato situation" that would not "move the needle in a major way financially".

But the car still carries symbolic weight.

"Tesla does not currently have a halo car, or high-performance luxury vehicle designed to showcase an automaker's best engineering and technology. The Roadster will be Tesla's new halo car," Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein said in a note last month.

Viewers and witnesses gushed over the spectacle of the launch.

"That was the most insane product demo I've ever seen," Tesla fan and investor Sawyer Merritt posted on X. "I just saw this in person, and I'm still asking how this wasn't AI."

Musk and other executives did not specify any target prices at Thursday's event, although Tesla nearly a decade ago quoted a base price of US$200,000 for the vehicle.

Tesla's reservation page for the Roadster after Thursday's event showed a "Performance" version of the vehicle requiring a US$50,000 deposit and a "Thrust" version with "acceleration thrusters" requiring a US$250,000 deposit. A "Rocket" variant, which Tesla says is "invite only", is described as a single-seat model with a "full flight system".

"HALFWAY TO THE SPEED OF SOUND"

The event at a SpaceX ​test site in McGregor, Texas, had all the elements of a classic Musk product reveal: Dramatic music, smoke, mechanical hissing sounds and a launch countdown.

"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, wearing a silver Western-style belt buckle emblazoned with the Tesla logo, told a cheering crowd of enthusiasts and investors.

The Roadster can accelerate from zero to 97 kmh in less than one second and can hit a top speed of over 370 kmh, Tesla vehicle engineering chief Lars Moravy said.

"Definitely much faster than that," an excited Musk said. "I think you've got to crack halfway to the speed of sound."

The Roadster can also travel over 480km on a single charge. That is less than half of what Musk promised in 2017, when Tesla first revealed a prototype of the second-generation Roadster and said that deliveries would begin in 2020.

The original Roadster, released in 2008 and on sale until 2012, was Tesla's first-ever electric vehicle and used a Lotus Elise chassis. It helped change the world's view of what an EV could be. The company has since been known for its Model Y and Model X SUVs and Model S and Model 3 sedans.

The reveal of the second-generation Roadster comes amid a sharp shift in Tesla's focus to artificial intelligence-led self-driving tech and robotics, from manufacturing cars for human drivers.

This year, Tesla stopped selling Model S and X vehicles to make space for production of its Optimus humanoid robots. It also launched Cybercab - a two-seater robotaxi that comes without manual controls such as a steering wheel, pedals and mirrors.

Tesla is set to report third-quarter results on Oct 21.

Sales of Tesla's aging lineup of EVs have declined over the past two years, although high gas prices helped boost deliveries in the third quarter.

"The margin and cash flow numbers will carry far more weight with investors than anything they saw at the reveal," said Josh Gilbert, lead analyst for Asia-Pacific at trading platform eToro.