After years of anticipation, the Tesla Roadster finally makes its big debut…and yes, it does have rockets.
Is it a James Bond car? Is it a spy plane? Is it a rocket? Technically, it’s the new Tesla Roadster, and you could argue its a mix of all three. After a cool seven years of waiting, the wedge-shaped electric supercar has finally arrived, with CEO Elon Musk and team rolling out another model that’s like nothing else you can currently buy (and speaking of “buy”, we’ll get to some numbers in a minute.
Tesla “rolled out” — if you can even really call it that — the roadster at SpaceX’s McGregor, Texas facility, with a wild demo and some even wilder claims for what this car can do. For example, let me hit you with this: the new Tesla Roadster has both SpaceX-sourced rocket thrusters and a fan system underneath the car to provide up to 2 g’s of suction. To demonstrate the point, the debut saw the Roadster roll up a half-loop track where it can stick to the road. It also did a barrel roll over the entire Tesla lineup, including a Semi.
Basically, the car is a smorgasbord of sharp lines, futuristic wedge shapes, gullwing doors and, of course, a steering yoke in place of more conventional controls.
Per Musk, it’s a full on rocket setup where you can pretty much do whatever acrobatics you want…though Tesla is very clear in its marketing that the rocket setup is not for on-road use. I don’t think it’s too difficult to understand why, but let’s just say the word begins with “L” and ends with “iability”. He says during the presentation, “I’m not sure its necessarily legal in all jurisdictions,” — you don’t say? — “but there will be such a car that someone can own”.
Now, as for the actual specs, the “Thrust” version of the Tesla Roadster that can still seat two people can, according to the retail site, accelerate from 0-60 in “under 1 second”. So, it’s twice as quick as the initial debut of the Roadster, where it was around 1.9 seconds. Musk also claimed the Roadster can do over 230 mph…but why stop there? Naturally, he’s looking for it to be the fastest car ever, with a goal of half the speed of sound, or approximately 384 mph (rounded up slightly).
How much will it cost, and when can you buy one?
With some of the physics-bending technology onboard and logic-defying speed, you might expect the new Tesla Roadster isn’t getting a conventional rollout.
You’d be right, because the retail site basically breaks this out into a tale of three models. The “base” Performance (the one that’s most like a car), is available to reserve with a $50,000 deposit.
Then there are the “Augments”, and that’s where things can get a bit more complicated. At the moment, Tesla is demanding a full $250,000 payment on the Thrust, saying it is a limited availability option. Then, if you want the Rocket — the one that can actually fly, but only seat one person instead of two — you’re only getting the opportunity through an invite from Tesla.
There’s more to come, of course, with Tesla currently planning to build the new Roadster in 2028.
Roadster event livestream https://t.co/G0jU4mWfid
— Tesla (@Tesla) October 15, 2026
