Tesla is poised to reveal the next-gen Roadster following multiple delays

Tesla intends to reveal its revamped Roadster this Thursday, almost nine years after initially presenting a next-gen version of its electric sports vehicle.

In 2017, Tesla unveiled a prototype of the car, which is priced at $200,000, stating that deliveries would start in 2020. Even though the price remains unchanged, each reservation still costs $50,000.

CEO Elon Musk minimized the importance of the model for Tesla’s finances; in 2023, he characterized it as a «trivial» issue that would not result in «a significant financial impact.»

Nonetheless, the vehicle retains its symbolic significance.

«Tesla presently does not have a flagship model—an elite luxury car intended to demonstrate a manufacturer’s top engineering and technology.» Seth Goldstein, an analyst at Morningstar, remarked last month that the Roadster will be Tesla’s latest flagship car.

In 2017, Musk created great anticipation by asserting that the four-seater Roadster would offer a range of 1,000 km per charge. In 2024, he shared on X that the model had undergone a redesign. The updated Roadster would have the ability to go from 0 to 100 km/h in under a second.

Goldstein projects that Tesla will deliver approximately 2,000 Roadster units each year—a number that accounts for only a small portion of the 1.6 million cars sold by the company last year. New Roadster Represents a Change in Tesla’s Strategy

The introduction of the second-generation Roadster occurs alongside a significant change in Tesla’s priorities: the company is transitioning from producing vehicles for human operators to focusing on AI-based self-driving technology and robotics.

The Roadster event is set to start on Thursday at 8:55 p.m. (U.S. Eastern Daylight Time / 00:55 GMT) at a SpaceX testing site in McGregor, Texas.