The next Tesla Roadster is designed to become the next Cybertruck, with new design goals added along the way and repeated delays. In a rare update, Elon Musk confirmed that deliveries of the next Roadster have been delayed again until at least 2025, as the EV manufacturer makes some last-minute changes aimed at making the Roadster “the most mind-blowing product demonstration of all time.”
If Tesla and Elon Musk have taught us anything, it’s that product schedules are as fluid as hot water. Nothing is as it seems, and everything is subject to debate until the last minute. In recent years, the Cybertruck has been the product announced only to be continually updated, improved, or simply changed, with features added or removed. First revealed to the public in 2019, the Cybertruck arrived four years later when no one thought it was anything more than vaporware.
However, fresh in the collective memory, another Tesla model fares even worse in this aspect: the next Roadster. The first prototype of the Roadster 2.0 was shown in 2017 at the end of the Tesla Semi event, but Elon Musk teased a second-generation Roadster as soon as the OG model ceased production in 2011. The initial deadline was ambitious, with the new Roadster set to debut in 2014. However, when the prototype was shown in 2017, Musk said a production model could arrive in 2020.
Since then, production dates have been postponed year after year, to the point where Tesla executives admitted that the Roadster was no longer a priority. This is unfortunate for people who put down a $50,000 deposit to secure their Roadster. Even today, you can make a deposit for a Roadster if you have nothing better to do with your $50K. Deliveries are “just around the corner,” as Elon Musk informed us in a rare update on the Roadster. The only problem? Musk previously promised that the Roadster would start production in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and now 2025. This makes the Cybertruck an example of punctual vehicle development.
Although you may think you know everything about the upcoming Tesla Roadster, don’t be fooled: just like the Cybertruck, the Roadster may end up being very different. The same, but different. But still the same, right? Now that the Tesla patriarch has finally turned his attention to the new Roadster, things are going to get wild. The design may not change much, but everything else will. As Musk announced, Tesla has “radically increased the design goals for the new Tesla Roadster.”
Only Elon Musk and a few people around him know what that means, but he promised: “There will never be another car like this, if you could even call it a car.” Tesla still hopes to work with SpaceX for some impressive space thrusters. However, the Roadster’s acceleration goal is no longer 1.1 seconds. It’s now “less than a second,” and that’s the least interesting part, as Musk promised. Like many other impressive things Tesla is working on (including all iterations of FSD Beta software), the next Roadster is also destined to become “the most impressive product demonstration of all time.”
And that means literally anything is on the table, including flying. Remember how the Cybertruck was promoted at some point as being able to “briefly serve as a boat”? Well, don’t be surprised if the Roadster is capable of “flying a little.” Musk has indicated that he is at least considering that possibility. Hopefully, this doesn’t mean more delays. As it stands now, the Roadster should be ready for debut by the end of 2024, with the first units delivered next year.
