Tesla's New Roadster Flies on SpaceX Thrusters, Hits 60 MPH in 0.81 Seconds
AUSTIN — Tesla finally pulled the covers off its long-delayed next-generation Roadster on Thursday — and it was worth the nine-year wait. At an event at SpaceX's test site in McGregor, Texas, Elon Musk unveiled a redesigned two-seat sports car fitted with SpaceX cold-gas rocket thrusters that let it lift off the ground, spin in mid-air, and accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in a blistering 0.81 seconds.
The demonstration was pure spectacle. The white Roadster drove upside down on a ramp using a "multi-mode suction system" that generates downforce even at a standstill, then twisted in the air and eased onto the pavement using its built-in thrusters. It later leapt over a Cybertruck, a Cybercab, a Tesla Semi, a Model Y and a Model 3 while rotating mid-flight. "This will be the actual car that's on the roads," Musk told the crowd, adding that it will "puff itself up" and perform the maneuvers on demand. No human drove the car during the stunts — Musk joked that was "meant to avoid killing anyone."
Tesla is offering the car in three trims. The two-seat "Performance" trim is described as road ready. The limited-run "Thrust" trim adds rear-mounted cold-gas thrusters firing pressurized air faster than the speed of sound — Tesla claims more than 80 kilonewtons of thrust, comparable to some fighter-jet engines — enabling sub-one-second acceleration. The single-seat "Rocket" trim, sold by invitation only, carries ten thrusters around the body for full aerial maneuverability. All three promise more than 300 miles of range and a top speed above 230 mph.
Reservations are already open on Tesla's website: $50,000 to reserve the Performance trim, $250,000 for the Thrust. Musk set production for 2028 — eight years after the car's original delivery target. Tesla first showed a second-generation Roadster prototype in 2017, then let the project drift while it chased autonomous driving and robotics.
Analysts are split on what the car means. "It was an engineering flex with no commercial value beyond embarrassing traditional car makers," Deepwater's Gene Munster wrote. Musk himself has played the car down, calling it a "small potato situation" financially. But as Morningstar's Seth Goldstein noted, Tesla has never had a true halo car — and the Roadster is about to become one.
One open question: legality. Tesla acknowledges the flying configurations won't be street legal, and it is unclear whether thrusters can be used on public roads at all. Expect that fight to play out long before the first production car lands in 2028.
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