Tesla unveils next generation Roadster sports EV with SpaceX thrusters

Tesla unveiled a redesigned Roadster equipped with thrusters on Thursday, nearly nine years after it first showed a next-generation version of its electric sports car and said ​it would start production in 2028.

Tesla demonstrated the two-seater vehicle, developed in collaboration with CEO Elon ‌Musk's rocket company SpaceX, showing it driving upside down on a ramp using a suction system and turning in the air and landing using in-built thrusters.

The use and legality of such features on public roads were not immediately clear.

Musk has played down the ​car's importance to Tesla's finances, describing it in 2023 as a "small potato situation" that would not "move the needle ​in a major way financially." But the car still carries symbolic weight.

"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.

Musk and other executives did ​not specify any target prices at Thursday's event, although Tesla nearly a decade ago quoted a base price of $200,000 for the vehicle.

Tesla's reservation page for the Roadster after Thursday's event showed a "Performance" version of the vehicle requiring a $50,000 deposit and a "Thrust" version with "acceleration thrusters" ​requiring a $250,000 deposit.

A "Rocket" variant, which Tesla says is "invite only," is described as a single-seat model with a "full flight ​system." The Roadster can accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour (about 96 kph) in less than one second and can hit a top speed ‌of ⁠over 230 mph, Musk said at a SpaceX test site in McGregor, Texas.

Tesla revealed a prototype of the car in 2017 and said then that deliveries would begin in 2020.

Musk had set high expectations in 2017, saying a four-seat Roadster would travel 620 miles (1,000 km) on a single charge.

Goldstein expects Tesla to sell around 2,000 Roadsters a year – a ​fraction of the 1.6 million ​vehicles Tesla sold last ⁠year.