Tesla Roadster
The Tesla Roadster is a sports car that was first shown in 2017 by Tesla. It's been nearly 9 years of delays, and Elon Musk has been promising a demo for most of that time. Well, it finally happened on October 15th, and it did NOT disappoint, because holy hell, was it impressive.
(Also, it's the second gen Roadster, not the first gen from 2008.)
The Delays
Before the good stuff, a quick recap of how we got here:
- November 2017: Roadster revealed, with 0-60 in 1.9 seconds, a 250+ mph top speed, and a 620 mile range
- 2020: Original production date (lol)
- End of 2025: Demo promised, then moved to April 1, 2026
- April 2026: Delayed again
- October 1, 2026: The real event date, until Tesla called it off, citing bad weather
- October 15, 2026: The actual event!
It's fair to say nobody was expecting this one to actually happen on time.
The Demo
Real life, baby https://t.co/3QEqn18wig
— Tesla (@Tesla) October 16, 2026
This is where it gets crazy. Prepare for a mouthful!
The event was held at SpaceX's test facility in Texas, in front of a giant ramp that curled over so the top of it was upside down. The Roadster cruised halfway up, glued to the ramp using a vacuum fan system, then launched off the end and flipped in the air. Thrusters flipped it right-side up and it landed on its wheels.
Yes, a car drove upside down on a ceiling. Then it did a flip!
Then they did it AGAIN, but this time it jumped over several Teslas (3, Y, Cybertruck, Cybercab, and the Semi), flipped, and landed with its thrusters.
Do a kickflip! https://t.co/DJ1Bq1yu8m
— Tesla (@Tesla) October 16, 2026
The tech behind it comes from SpaceX:
- Cold gas thrusters (compressed air, so no actual fire, sadly)
- Suction fans (stick the car to the ramp, even upside down)
- 0-60 in 0.81 seconds (with the thrusters attached, non-thruster version unknown)
Musk said before the demo that success wasn't guaranteed, but it would probably work. His reaction after? "Well, it worked."
- Rating: 11/10 (as a demo)
Is it actually "flying"?
Not really. The car is not flying around the city like in a sci-fi movie. It's a very controlled hop, with thrusters doing a barrel roll in the air. Musk still went with "Turns out the future does have flying cars," but that's partially true.
Still, something is greater than zero.
Also, the demo car was reportedly remote-operated and is assumed to be not street-legal, so don't expect to be hovering over traffic any time soon.
What we DON'T know
This is the part I'm less excited about. The reveal was amazing, but the details are very thin:
- Release date - Musk says production starts in 2028, which is two years away from this post's creation
- Price - Not announced (but reservations are 50k for base model, 250k for thruster, unknown for rocket model, which is invite-only)
- Range - Not announced (but 2017's demo said 620 miles)
- Street legality - No word yet on how the thruster version would be allowed on public roads. I HOPE it's only for the track because if it's allowed on public roads
Overall
As a demo, this was one of the best product reveals I've ever seen. A car driving upside down and barrel rolling mid-air is something I never thought I'd see! As an actual product, though, we're still waiting on almost everything. I really hope the real thing lives up to the hype, because if it does, the Roadster might be the coolest and most innovative car ever made.