The new Tesla Roadster is finally real, but you still can't buy one. Tesla revealed the redesigned car on October 15, 2026, at a SpaceX test site in McGregor, Texas, and Elon Musk now says production starts in 2028. There's no price yet, only reservations starting at $50,000. Here's what we know about the Tesla Roadster as of October 17, 2026, and which claims are still just claims.
Is the Tesla Roadster out yet?
No. The Tesla Roadster has been unveiled, but it isn't in production and no customer has one. At the October 15 event, Musk gave the production year as "2028, actually", according to Electrek.
That's eight years later than first promised. Tesla showed the second-generation Roadster in November 2017 and said it would arrive in 2020. Some outlets describe 2028 as the start of production and others as the start of deliveries, so treat it as a target, not a delivery date.
What happened at the October 15, 2026 Roadster event?
Tesla livestreamed a stunt show. According to Fox Business, the car drove up a steep curved ramp, used a fan-based suction system to stay attached until it was upside down, then fired cold-gas thrusters developed with SpaceX to launch off, flip in midair and land. It also flipped over a lineup of Tesla vehicles and a semi-truck.
"Turns out the future does have flying cars," Musk said on stage. The new Roadster is a white, angular two-seater that looks nothing like the 2017 prototype.
One big catch, though. Jalopnik reports that Tesla said nobody was inside the demo cars, because some of the maneuvers "would likely do real harm to a human." Jalopnik described the cars as likely "nothing more than shells" built for the tests, and said Tesla "has yet to prove anything" about how the car works in the real world.
How much does the Tesla Roadster cost?
Tesla hasn't announced a price for any version. What you can pay right now is a reservation. Back in 2017, Tesla quoted a $200,000 base price and $250,000 for the Founders Series, but those numbers belong to a car that no longer exists in that form.
The new lineup has three trims. Tesla listed them on its website, as reported by TechCrunch:
Trim | Seats | What it adds | Reservation |
|---|---|---|---|
Performance | 2 | Active aero and a fan suction system | $50,000 |
Thrust | 2 | Rear cold-gas thrusters | $250,000 (reported) |
Rocket | 1 | 10 cold-gas thrusters | Invite only |
Not every outlet agrees on the amounts. TechCrunch and Fox Business report a $250,000 reservation for the Thrust trim, while Electrek and Jalopnik only mention $50,000. According to Electrek, the $50,000 is paid in two steps: $5,000 up front, which Tesla calls "fully refundable," and $45,000 within 10 days, or the reservation is canceled. Tesla hasn't clearly said whether the larger payment can be refunded.
How fast is the new Tesla Roadster?
Tesla claims the quickest version hits 60 mph in under 0.6 seconds, but no independent outlet has tested it. Every number below comes from Tesla or Musk.
Tesla's post after the stream, as quoted by Electrek, gives these 0-60 mph times:
Performance: under 1.6 seconds
Thrust: under 0.9 seconds
Rocket: under 0.59 seconds
Tesla also claims a range of "over 300 miles" and a top speed of "over 230 mph." Reports disagree on whether that top speed applies to every trim or only the Rocket. Jalopnik says a 0.81-second run was claimed on stage, but no timer was shown on screen.
How does that compare with the 2017 promises?
It's a mixed bag. The 2017 Roadster promised 0-60 mph in 1.9 seconds, a 620-mile range, a top speed over 250 mph and four seats. The 2026 car claims quicker launches but about half the range and two seats instead of four.
Can the Tesla Roadster really fly?
Not in any normal sense. The thrusters give the car short hops, flips and bursts of acceleration. Jalopnik said the car seems able to fire them only briefly, so it can "hop moreso than really fly."
The idea goes back years. Musk first talked about a "SpaceX package" with cold-gas thrusters in 2018. The flight hardware is limited to the top trims, and Tesla says the one-seat Rocket isn't approved for public roads, according to Electrek. So the Roadster you'd actually drive on the street, the Performance trim, has no thrusters at all.
Why did the Tesla Roadster take so long?
Mostly because the dates never held. After the 2020 target, the Roadster was pushed to 2022, then 2023, then 2024 and 2025. At Tesla's shareholder meeting on November 6, 2025, Musk set a demo for April 1, 2026 and said production would come "probably about 12-18 months after that".
The demo then slid again through 2026. Invitations went out for October 1, 2026, but Tesla moved the event to October 15, citing bad weather. The October 15 event was the first Roadster date in years that Tesla actually met.
What was the original Tesla Roadster?
The original Roadster was Tesla's first car, built from 2008 to about 2012. Tesla made about 2,450 of them, mostly for US buyers, according to Not a Tesla App. It was based on the Lotus Elise, a light two-seat sports car, with Tesla's own battery and drivetrain.
Photo: Michael Martinelli / Unsplash
It started at $98,950 and could go about 245 miles on a charge, a lot for an electric car back then. It did 0-60 mph in 3.7 or 3.9 seconds depending on the version, with a top speed of 125 mph. If you see a Roadster for sale today, it's almost certainly one of these, not the new car.
Is the Tesla Roadster still in space?
Yes. Musk's own red Roadster, with a mannequin in a spacesuit nicknamed "Starman" in the driver's seat, launched on SpaceX's first Falcon Heavy rocket on February 6, 2018. It's orbiting the Sun, not Earth, and takes about 557 days to go around once. If you want to see roughly where it is today, Where Is Roadster tracks it.
Should you reserve a Tesla Roadster?
Only if you're comfortable putting money down on a car with no price and a 2028 target from a company that has missed every earlier Roadster production date. The demo showed real engineering, but the wildest tricks belong to limited or invite-only trims, and none of the performance figures have been independently tested. If you're curious, the $5,000 first step is the part Tesla calls fully refundable. Otherwise, we'd wait for a real price and real test drives. For more explainers like this one, browse our tech coverage.
Frequently asked questions
When will the Tesla Roadster be released?
Elon Musk said on October 15, 2026 that the new Roadster will be built in 2028. Tesla has missed every earlier Roadster production target since 2020, so that date isn't guaranteed.
How much is the Tesla Roadster?
Tesla hasn't announced a price. Reservations start at $50,000 for the Performance trim, and the Thrust trim is reported at $250,000. In 2017, Tesla quoted a $200,000 base price for the earlier design.
Is the Tesla Roadster 0-60 in under 1 second?
That's Tesla's claim for the thruster trims: under 0.9 seconds for Thrust and under 0.59 seconds for Rocket. The road-focused Performance trim is claimed at under 1.6 seconds. None of these times have been independently tested.
Can you drive the flying Tesla Roadster on the road?
Not the Rocket version. Tesla says the one-seat Rocket isn't approved for public roads. The Performance trim is the road-going model, and it doesn't have thrusters.
How many original Tesla Roadsters were made?
About 2,450 original Roadsters were built between 2008 and 2012. The car was based on the Lotus Elise and was Tesla's first production vehicle.