Tesla’s new Roadster teaser hints at a ‘Cyber’ redesign it doesn’t need — SkimNews
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- Tesla will unveil the new Roadster on October 1 near Waco, Texas, more than eight years after the original 2017 reveal, with a teaser showing SpaceX cold gas thrusters and angular "Cyber" styling including a full-width light bar.
- The SpaceX cold gas thrusters deliver 0-60 mph in under one second, but the car already does under two seconds without them; Musk himself called the sub-one-second 0-60 "the least interesting part," and the thrusters are useless outside a closed track with only a handful of firings per refill.
- The "flying car" promise has been scaled back from flight to a brief hover, with the demo car reportedly not street-legal and planned to run remotely with no driver inside because the thrusters are a noise hazard.
- Tesla has slipped the Roadster reveal/production at least eight times since the promised 2020 production start, with high-profile reservation holders Marques Brownlee and Sam Altman having already canceled.
- The 2017 Roadster promised 620-mile range, 0-60 in 1.9 seconds, 250-plus-mph top speed, seating for four, at a $200,000 base price — with $50,000 deposits taken and the $250,000 Founders Series sold out.
- A former Tesla president suggested the delays are really about tying the Roadster's story to SpaceX ahead of a possible merger, which the source says fits Tesla's habit of relaunching decade-old products for a stock pump.
Why it matters: For the thousands of reservation holders who wired Tesla $50,000 deposits based on 2017 specs, eight years and eight slipped timelines means the car they reserved is arriving wrapped in gimmicks they didn't ask for — and Musk himself has already conceded the headline feature is "the least interesting part." If Tesla ships a cyber-redesigned Roadster at a higher price, depositors lose through further delays or price hikes while the company uses the launch narrative to boost equity tied to a possible SpaceX merger.
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