In November 2017, Tesla unveiled a new Roadster and said it would be available in 2020, starting at $200,000. On October 15, 2026, Tesla unveiled it again, this time at SpaceX’s rocket test facility in McGregor, Texas, with cold-gas thrusters that let a driverless prototype launch, flip and fly short distances. Elon Musk said production would begin in 2028, according to Dataconomy and the car’s documented history.
Reuters summed up the gap:
Tesla unveiled a redesigned Roadster equipped with thrusters that enable it to fly short distances, nearly nine years after it first showed a next-generation version of its electric sports car, and said it would start production in 2028 https://t.co/xYuT9Izmvf pic.twitter.com/p8SKMOiKjp
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 16, 2026
The stunt drew the attention. The more useful numbers are the dates and the deposits.
What Tesla showed
Tesla presented three versions. The Performance model uses active aerodynamics and a suction system for road and track use. The Thrust model adds rear-mounted cold-gas thrusters for acceleration. The single-seat Rocket, available by invitation only, has 10 thrusters around the car, Dataconomy reported. Tesla claimed a range of about 300 miles and top speeds above 230 miles per hour. Those are company claims, not independent measurements.
Musk announced no price. Tesla’s website showed reservations costing $50,000 for the Performance trim and $250,000 for the Thrust, according to Dataconomy.
Nine years of promises
The timeline is what makes those deposits notable. When the car was first shown in 2017, buyers could reserve one with a $50,000 deposit, or pay $250,000 for one of 1,000 Founders Series cars, according to Dataconomy. Delivery was promised for 2020. Since then, Musk delayed the Roadster in 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024, and last year said production would come in 2027 or 2028. Anyone who reserved in 2017 and kept the reservation has now been waiting nearly nine years, for a car that is still at least two years from production and still has no announced price.
Tesla is far from the only company to miss a launch date. But a large deposit with no price and no delivery date is effectively an interest-free loan from the buyer to the automaker. The longer the wait, the more that matters.
The safety question
The thrusters raise questions the reveal did not settle. Tesla said on X that every usable void in the car contains carbon-fiber overwrapped pressure vessels, the kind of high-pressure tank Dataconomy noted has been at the root of multiple SpaceX rocket explosions. The Thrust model stores its gas at roughly 10,000 psi, according to details reported by Top Gear and compiled on Wikipedia.
Musk has been candid that safety is not the priority. He previously said “safety is not the main goal,” and on a podcast earlier this year told buyers who put safety first not to buy the Roadster, Dataconomy reported. Tesla said the Rocket would be for off-road use only, according to Wikipedia. How a car carrying high-pressure tanks and thrusters will be certified for public roads was not addressed at the event.
The case for the spectacle
There is a reasonable view that none of this matters much. The Roadster was never meant to be a volume product. It is a halo car, built to show what Tesla and SpaceX engineering can do together and to keep attention on the brand, and the reveal did exactly that. The buyers who can afford a $50,000 deposit can decide for themselves whether a thruster-equipped sports car is worth the wait.
But Tesla’s credibility rests on its timelines, from the Roadster to robotaxis, and the Roadster is the clearest record of how those timelines have held up. A 2017 promise of 2020 deliveries has become a 2028 production target. Investors and customers weighing Tesla’s other forecasts are entitled to factor that in.
What to watch
Three things will show whether 2028 is real: a published price, a firm delivery date for reservation holders, and some sign of how the thruster versions will meet road-safety rules. Until then, the Roadster is the most exciting car Tesla has shown and the hardest one to actually buy.
Related reading: Starship Finally Reached Orbit With 26 Starlink Satellites. · Robotaxis Really Are Safer. We Can Only Prove It About One Company. · A Year Without the $7,500 EV Credit.
