Tesla’s Roadster Could Finally Appear This Month - But It’s Not What You Think

Tesla may finally show off its redesigned Roadster before August ends, according to a new report. The event, first covered by The Information and picked up by Reuters, could happen at SpaceX’s test site in McGregor, Texas. But don’t expect a normal car.

The possible debut might include a SpaceX-developed cold-gas thruster package, the kind of feature Elon Musk has teased for years. That edition reportedly won’t be street legal, could cost anywhere from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars, and might be operated remotely.

Why? The force and noise from the thrusters would make sitting inside a person a bad idea.

So this isn’t a production car. It’s more like a flashy demo. Tesla first showed the next-generation Roadster concept back in November 2017, promising customer deliveries in 2020. That never happened. 9-second 0-60 mph time, a top speed over 250 mph, and a 620-mile range, still sit on Tesla’s Roadster page, unchanged.

The new report says the redesigned Roadster has evolved into a carbon-fiber hypercar, not something built on Model S Plaid parts. The standard version and the SpaceX edition would look similar, but only the latter gets thrusters.

Tesla already took $50,000 deposits for the standard car and $250,000 for the Founders Series. Those buyers have waited years. A one-off spectacle in McGregor won’t fix that. Real progress would mean a production-ready car, a firm delivery date, and proof Tesla can finally keep this promise.

None of that is confirmed yet.