Overview
- Tesla publicly revealed the second‑generation Roadster on Friday in a SpaceX test‑site demo that showed short ‘flight’ moves including an inverted ramp climb, mid‑air flip, hover and controlled landing.
- The company says the car uses a SpaceX‑developed A71 cold‑gas propulsion system and a multi‑mode underbody fan suction system that it claims can generate about 2g of downforce and enable inverted driving.
- Tesla presented three trims—Performance (road‑legal two‑seat), Thrust (track‑oriented) and Rocket (single‑seat, invite‑only with the full thruster package)—and published ambitious targets for range and 0–97 km/h acceleration.
- Reservations are open now with the Performance deposit listed at ¥332,000 and Elon Musk set a production target of 2028 while warning that legal road use will depend on local rules and specific roads.
- The Roadster is positioned as Tesla’s performance halo and its last human‑driven model, but the company’s performance claims were demonstrated on private property with preprogrammed sequences and remain unverified, which leaves certification and real‑world operability unresolved.