Tesla Roadster Finally Revealed: Thruster Stunts, 0.81s 0-60

Tesla has finally unveiled the second-generation Roadster, nearly nine years after the car was first promised. The electric supercar made its global debut on Thursday, October 15, 2026, at SpaceX’s rocket testing facility near Waco, Texas, in a livestream on Tesla’s X account that leaned hard into spectacle: the car launched itself off a vertical ramp, performed a midair flip, and landed back on the pavement in front of the crowd.

The new Tesla Roadster shown from the rear with thruster vapor trails in official Tesla reveal artwork — The new Tesla Roadster in official Tesla reveal artwork. Image: Tesla

The reveal, led by Elon Musk, had been scheduled for October 1 but was pushed back two weeks after Tesla said severe weather made the outdoor-only venue unusable. Musk later blamed high winds, which only fed speculation that the car would leave the ground on stage. It did exactly that. According to MotorWeek, the Roadster drove up an inverted curved ramp using fan suction, then used its thrusters to spin in the air before returning to the ground. Later in the show, it cleared a full lineup of parked Tesla vehicles in a thruster-assisted jump, with no ramps involved.

The hardware behind the stunts is a collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX. Tesla engineering vice president Lars Moravy said the Roadster uses 10 nozzles connected to 600 liters of compressed air to lift and spin the vehicle, according to TechCrunch reporting cited by Men’s Journal. The air tank can be recharged between runs.

The headline performance figure from the night was a 0 to 60 mph run in 0.81 seconds on the event’s own timer, which has not been independently verified. Musk said on stage that he believes the car can go even quicker, and earlier in the evening he claimed the Roadster would, in his words, crush every track record that has ever existed. For context, the Rimac Nevera holds an independently verified 1.74-second 0 to 60 time, a record the Roadster cannot claim until a production car is tested by a third party.

Tesla also confirmed the car’s three configurations in writing after the event: Performance, Thrust, and Rocket. The company lists 0 to 60 times of under 1.6 seconds for Performance, under 0.9 seconds for Thrust, and under 0.59 seconds for the Rocket version, with range of more than 300 miles and a top speed above 230 mph for the top trim. The Rocket configuration, however, is not approved for public roads. Musk described the car on stage as the best of the last human-driven cars, and one report noted it will be the only new production Tesla without Full Self-Driving.

The long road to this reveal is part of the story. Tesla first showed the next-generation Roadster in November 2017 alongside the Semi, promising production in 2020 with a $50,000 reservation deposit. The date then slipped to 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, before Musk said in February 2024 that the design goals had been radically increased. In November 2025, production moved to 2027 or 2028. The unveil itself went through at least seven dates, from a demo planned for the end of 2025 to April 1, 2026, then late May, August, October 1, and finally October 15, according to Electrek’s timeline.

What remains unanswered is the price. Tesla did not announce one on stage. Reservations have reopened in the United States, Canada, and China with a fully refundable $50,000 deposit, structured as a $5,000 credit card payment plus a $45,000 wire transfer due within 10 days, according to reporting on the reservation terms. The 2017 car was listed at $200,000 for the base model and $250,000 for the Founders Series, so buyers should expect the new car to sit well above mainstream Tesla pricing. Musk said on stage that production is planned for 2028, though given the car’s history, that date deserves a skeptical eyebrow.

It is also worth separating the show from the spec sheet. The 0.81-second run, the midair flip, and the jump over the Tesla lineup were demonstrations of a halo car built to push boundaries, not a production vehicle review. The original 2017 claims of a 1.9-second 0 to 60, a 4.2-second 0 to 100, an 8.9-second quarter mile, and 620 miles of range have not been confirmed as final production figures.

For readers, the takeaway is twofold. Enthusiasts finally have a real car to look at after nine years of delays, and the SpaceX thruster system is genuinely unlike anything else on four wheels. But until Tesla announces a price, starts production, and hands a car to independent testers, the Roadster remains what it has always been: the most spectacular promise in the electric car world.

Sources: MotorWeek, Electrek, Men’s Journal, GadgetKing

Axee Davies

Axee Davies is the founder of AxeeTech, publishing gaming guides, codes, and Windows how-tos since March 2013. A tech enthusiast for 13+ years — starting with smartphones and Android rooting — he now runs a site that puts out a new guide every day for Roblox players, traders, and Windows users. More about AxeeTech

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