Tesla Set to Unveil Long-Awaited Redesigned Roadster

Key Moments

Roadster Returns After Prolonged Delay

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 15 (Reuters) – Tesla is preparing to debut its reworked Roadster on Thursday, marking a significant milestone nearly nine years after the company first presented a concept for a next-generation version of its electric sports car.

The original prototype of the $200,000 Roadster was unveiled in 2017, when Tesla indicated that deliveries would begin in 2020. While the company has not revised the listed price, the reservation fee remains set at $50,000 per vehicle.

A Halo Product With Limited Financial Impact

Chief Executive Elon Musk has previously downplayed the Roadster’s role in the broader business. In 2023, he referred to the model as a “small potato situation” that would not “move the needle in a major way financially.”

Despite that assessment, the Roadster is seen as strategically important for Tesla’s brand and technology leadership.

“Tesla does not currently have a halo car, or high-performance luxury vehicle designed to showcase an automaker’s best engineering and technology. The Roadster will be Tesla’s new halo car,” Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein said in a note last month.

Performance Targets and SpaceX Collaboration

Musk set ambitious performance goals at the time of the 2017 prototype reveal, stating that a four-seat Roadster would be capable of traveling 620 miles (1,000 km) on a single charge. In 2024, he wrote on X that the car had been redesigned and said the new version would be able to accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour (100 km per hour) in less than a second. “And that is least interesting part,” he added, describing the vehicle as a collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX, the rocket company he also leads.

Goldstein projects annual Roadster sales around 2,000 units, a volume that would represent only a small slice of Tesla’s overall operations, given that the automaker sold 1.6 million vehicles last year.

From the Original Roadster to Today’s Lineup

The first-generation Roadster, which debuted in 2008 and remained on sale until 2012, was Tesla’s initial production EV and was built on a Lotus Elise chassis. The model played a pivotal role in reshaping perceptions of what an electric car could deliver in terms of performance and design.

Since then, Tesla has become more closely associated with its Model Y and Model X SUVs, as well as the Model S and Model 3 sedans, which make up the bulk of its current lineup.

Roadster Launch Amid Strategic Pivot to AI and Robotics

The unveiling of the second-generation Roadster arrives at a time when Tesla is undergoing a marked strategic pivot away from traditional vehicle manufacturing for human drivers and toward artificial intelligence-driven autonomous technology and robotics.

This year, Tesla stopped selling its Model S and Model X vehicles to free up capacity for producing its Optimus humanoid robots. The company also introduced Cybercab, a two-seat robotaxi designed without conventional manual controls, such as a steering wheel, pedals, or mirrors.

Event Details and Key Metrics

The Roadster reveal is scheduled to begin at 8:55 p.m. EDT (0055 GMT) on Thursday at a SpaceX test facility in McGregor, Texas.