New Tesla Roadster may be delayed – again
Today at 08:21 PM
Previously due in 2025 – after years upon years of delays – the Tesla Roadster may have been pushed back once more.
The Tesla Roadster electric supercar is already close to five years behind schedule – but it looks to have been delayed yet again.
Unveiled as a concept in 2017, the second-generation Roadster was originally earmarked for deliveries in 2020 – but the car is yet to surface in showroom trim, and production is yet to begin.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced earlier this year the Roadster would be shown in its final form this year, before the first examples roll off the production line, promising a 0-60mph (97km/h) acceleration time of less than one second.
However, the Tesla boss was less candid on arrival timing in a briefing with investors and media today, and suggested the car could launch after other higher-volume models in its line-up.
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“I’d like to thank our long-suffering deposit holders of the Tesla Roadster. The reason it hasn’t come out yet is because the Roadster is not just the icing on the cake, but it’s the cherry on the icing on the cake,” Musk said on an investor call this morning.
“Our larger mission is to accelerate the progress towards a sustainable energy future, [and] try to do things that enhance the probability that the future is good for humanity and for Earth. That means things like that are kinda like dessert.
“We’d all love to work on the next-gen Tesla Roadster, it is super fun, and we are working on that.
“But it has to come behind the things that have a more serious impact on the good of the world.”
He did not name an updated launch date – nor confirm or deny whether the car is still planned to be revealed this year – but the top executive’s language strongly hints at another delay.
Musk acknowledged “we are actually finally making progress on that,” and that the US car giant is “close to finalising the design” for the Roadster, telling investors and media “it’s really going to be something spectacular.”
It is very similar language to the last time Musk spoke on the status of the Roadster – at an earnings call three months ago – when the car was on track to enter production in 2025.
“We’ve completed most of the engineering. I think there are still some upgrades we want to make to it, but we expect to be in production with Roadster next year. It will be something special,” the CEO said in July.
Among the higher-priority models in Tesla’s new vehicle pipeline is the Cybercab, an autonomous robotaxi not due to enter production until 2026.
It is also working on new, more affordable models due in the first half of next year – based on existing platforms, with steering wheels and pedals – as well as a facelifted versions of its top seller, the Model Y electric SUV, due at a similar time.
If the Roadster’s launch is pushed into 2026, it would place the sports car six years behind the original launch schedule – and nearly a decade after it was first shown to the public.
The reveal of the second-generation Roadster concept in November 2017 is already closer to the end of production of the original – in January 2012 – than the present day.
Elon Musk has previously declared the new Roadster will be capable of accelerating from zero to 60mph (97km/h) in less than one second, and that it would be a collaboration with his SpaceX company, the first private firm to launch a liquid-propellant rocket into orbit.
The executive has also previously claimed a 0-60mph time of 1.1 seconds for the car when fitted with a “SpaceX rocket thruster option package”, which would add “10 small rocket thrusters arranged seamlessly around [the] car”.
“These rocket engines dramatically improve acceleration, top speed, braking & cornering. Maybe they will even allow a Tesla to fly,” he has said.
At the reveal of the Roadster concept in 2017, the US car giant promised three electric motors and a 200kWh battery capable of 0-60mph (97km/h) in 1.9 seconds – or 0-100km/h in 2.1 seconds – plus 0-100mph (160km/h) in 4.2 seconds, and a quarter-mile (402m) in 8.8 seconds.
It also quoted a top speed of “over 400km/h”, and a highway driving range of 1000km.
Customers have been able to place a deposit on the Roadster since the night of its unveiling, with a $7000 refundable pre-order followed by a $59,000, non-refundable bank transfer within 10 days in Australia.
Buyers could also spring for a Founders’ Series version, which hiked the cost of the second stage of payment from $59,900 to $319,000 – indicating a higher RRP for the car.
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