We all love some classic Elon overpromising. Hyping up vehicles years before they realistically hit production? Tesla fans eat that up with a spoon. Elon’s latest statement about the repeatedly-delayed Roadster 2.0 is just plain wacky, even by his standards.
What did say this time? new Roadster will be able to straight-up FLY. Yes, Elon says Tesla’s electric supercar reboot won’t just hug the roads, but defy gravity itself. I’ll give you a moment to pick your jaw up off the floor.
“The new Tesla Roadster can fly” Elon in his latest X reply. Did he provide any additional details on this potentially revolutionary flight tech? Of course not, don’t be silly!
For the unfamiliar, the new Roadster was first teased way back in 2017 as a wildly high-performance sports car capable of sprinting from 0-60 mph in a face-melting 1.9 seconds. Elon hyped up the idea of an optional “SpaceX package” for the Roadster that would include cold air rocket thrusters to “dramatically” boost performance and outrageous sub-1 sec 0-60. These low-thrust thruster pods could, in theory, allow a car to pull off brief hop maneuvers or horizontal jumps. Though executing an actual controlled atmospheric flight is easier said than done (and seems wildly unlikely).
At this point, most have simply accepted that the second-gen Roadster is the automotive equivalent of Half Life 3. A tantalizing concept forever lingering in development hell purgatory.