Tesla to demo flying Roadster with SpaceX thrusters
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- Tesla is preparing to demo its new Roadster as early as this month at SpaceX’s McGregor, Texas test site, using cold gas thrusters developed with SpaceX to make the car lift off the ground.
- Elon Musk selected a carbon fiber tub design over a Model S Plaid-based version in 2022, directing staff to 'do it correctly or not at all,' committing Tesla to build a true hypercar requiring new engineering talent.
- Tesla hired engineers from Italy, including former Lamborghini body engineering lead Stefan Nothdurfter, to develop the Roadster, though he has since departed the company.
- The Information reports the planned demo has been scaled back from an ambitious sequence involving a magnetized ramp, upside-down driving, and hovering to a simpler remote-controlled liftoff.
- Tesla internally discussed selling the limited-edition, non-street-legal Roadster — likely costing hundreds of thousands or millions — to superfans via a Ferrari XX Programme-style track experience.
- Musk told staff the demo will be hard to pull off and could fail, but emphasized it would still be entertaining regardless of outcome, according to someone familiar with internal comments.
- Tesla took $50,000 and $250,000 reservations for the standard and Founders Series Roadster in 2017, has delayed delivery at least eight times, and faces public cancellations from figures like Marques Brownlee and Sam Altman.
Why it matters: Hundreds of reservation holders who paid up to $250,000 a decade ago still have no car, while Tesla invests in a costly, non-commercializable stunt vehicle. The gap between promised product and demonstrable reality widens, risking brand trust among early adopters without delivering tangible returns to justify delays.
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