Tesla to Unveil Redesigned Roadster After Nearly a Decade
The highly anticipated electric sports car, first previewed in 2017, is set for a Thursday reveal with updated features and a collaboration with SpaceX.
Tesla is scheduled to unveil the redesigned version of its next-generation Roadster on Thursday, marking the culmination of a nearly nine-year wait since the prototype was first shown. The automaker initially presented the electric sports car in 2017, with delivery expectations set for 2020.
The price for the upcoming Roadster remains at $200,000, with reservations requiring a $50,000 deposit. Despite the significant price tag, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has previously characterized the Roadster's financial impact as minimal, referring to it as a "small potato situation" in 2023 that would not substantially alter the company's financial performance.
However, analysts suggest that high-performance vehicles like the Roadster can serve as important platforms for showcasing advanced automotive technology. Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein noted that the Roadster will function as Tesla's "halo car," a high-performance luxury vehicle designed to exhibit an automaker's most advanced engineering and technology.
Initially, in 2017, Musk stated that the four-seat Roadster would offer a range of 620 miles on a single charge. In a recent post on X, he indicated that the car has undergone a redesign. Musk also revealed that the new Roadster is a collaborative effort between Tesla and SpaceX, the aerospace company he also leads. He further claimed that the redesigned vehicle will be capable of accelerating from 0 to 60 miles per hour in under a second, though he described this acceleration as the "least interesting part" of the car's development.
Goldstein anticipates that Tesla will sell approximately 2,000 Roadsters annually, a figure that represents a small fraction of the 1.6 million vehicles the company sold in the previous year.
The original Tesla Roadster was produced from 2008 to 2012 and was the company's first electric vehicle. It was built on a Lotus Elise chassis and is credited with paving the way for Tesla's subsequent models, including the Model S, Model 3, Model X, and Model Y.
The reveal of the second-generation Roadster coincides with Tesla's increasing emphasis on artificial intelligence for its autonomous driving technology and robotics development. The company has previously adjusted its production strategies, including pausing the sale of Model S and Model X vehicles to accommodate the manufacturing of its Optimus humanoid robots. Tesla has also introduced the Cybercab, a two-seater robotaxi designed without traditional manual controls.
The event for the next-generation Roadster is scheduled to commence at 8:55 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday at a SpaceX test site located in McGregor, Texas.