Tesla says it will reveal the second generation of its Roadster on October 1. The electric vehicle company announced the date in a post on X on Saturday, writing “Go for launch” alongside a graphic showing “10.01.” The unveiling would mark a long-delayed milestone for a sports car that Tesla first announced in November 2017.
The graphic also appears to reference cold gas thrusters that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has promised for the vehicle. Those thrusters are being developed by SpaceX, Musk’s other major company. They are described as optional equipment intended to allow the Roadster to fly in some way. Tesla has not provided further details about the thrusters or how they would function.
The Roadster’s second generation has been pushed back multiple times since it was announced. The delays became the subject of a social media dispute last year between Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Altman said that waiting 7.5 years had felt like a long time after he paid a $50,000 reservation fee, while Musk maintained that Altman had received a refund.
The Information recently reported that the 2017 version of the car had been completely abandoned in favor of a new design that has not yet been revealed. According to that report, the redesigned vehicle would be shown imminently. The October 1 event would be the first public look at the replacement design.
Musk has previously said that even after the reveal, the Roadster will not enter production for another 12 or 18 months. That timeline means the car would not reach customers until well after the October 1 event. Tesla has not announced a production date or pricing for the new Roadster.
The announcement comes as Tesla faces competition in the US electric vehicle market, where several automakers now offer electric sports models and high-performance cars. The original Roadster, Tesla’s first vehicle, helped establish the company as a manufacturer of electric cars. The second-generation model was originally positioned as a high-performance follow-up, but its repeated delays have left it without a firm launch schedule until now.
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