Tesla CEO Elon Musk claims the long-awaited next-generation Roadster will lastly be unveiled by the top of the month, which is days away. If it truly occurs, it might come almost 9 years after the unique prototype was first proven in November 2017.
We’ve been down this highway earlier than — many, many occasions. Here’s the most recent on the place issues stand and the way we acquired right here.
A historical past of damaged guarantees
The second-generation Tesla Roadster was first unveiled as a prototype in November 2017, through the Tesla Semi launch occasion. At the time, Musk promised manufacturing would start in 2020, with the electrical supercar boasting specs that sounded nearly too good to be true: 0-60 mph in 1.9 seconds, a 620-mile vary from a 200 kWh battery pack, a prime pace above 250 mph, and a base value of $200,000.
Tesla instantly started gathering deposits — $50,000 for the standard reservation and a staggering $250,000 for one of the primary 1,000 “Founders Series” models. Thousands of individuals put down their cash, anticipating to be behind the wheel inside a couple of years.
That didn’t occur. What adopted is one of the longest strings of damaged timelines in automotive historical past:
In July 2020, Musk mentioned the Roadster would are available “the next 12-18 months.” In January 2021, he pushed manufacturing to 2022. By September 2021, it was delayed to 2023. At the May 2023 shareholder assembly, Musk moved the goal to 2024. In February 2024, he promised an unveil of the manufacturing model by the top of that yr with deliveries beginning in early 2025. By October 2024, on Tesla’s Q3 earnings name, Musk admitted manufacturing was delayed once more to 2025-2026. Then in November 2025, at a shareholder assembly, Musk introduced manufacturing wouldn’t start till 2027 or 2028 — a full seven to eight years behind the unique promise.
At that very same November 2025 assembly, Musk mentioned a Roadster “demo” would occur on April 1, 2026. Yes, April Fools’ Day. And he brazenly acknowledged it gave him “deniability because I can say I was just kidding.”
Latest developments
In March 2026, Musk shifted his language from “demo” to “unveil,” posting on X that the Roadster reveal would come in late April and would be “a banger next-level.” He instructed followers the manufacturing automobile will probably be “very different than what we’ve shown previously.”
There are some tangible indicators of progress, no less than on paper. In February 2026, Tesla filed two new trademark applications with the USPTO, together with one that includes an up to date automobile silhouette with a sleeker profile and a squarer roofline in contrast to the 2017 prototype. The firm additionally filed patent purposes for an built-in single-piece composite seat.
In October 2025, Tesla posted a job itemizing for a “Manufacturing Engineer, Roadster” targeted on “concept development and launch of battery manufacturing equipment” — a list that, whereas encouraging, additionally confirmed the automobile was nonetheless within the very early levels of manufacturing growth.
Performance claims have someway escalated through the years of delays. In February 2024, Musk acknowledged on X that the new design objective for the manufacturing Roadster included acceleration from 0-60 mph in below one second. The non-compulsory “SpaceX package,” first introduced in 2018, would reportedly embrace roughly 10 small cold-air rocket thrusters to improve cornering, braking, and acceleration. Whether any of this can materialize within the manufacturing automobile stays totally unclear.
Reservation holders rising pissed off
The delays haven’t been purely educational for everybody concerned. Some reservation holders have been sitting on $50,000 or $250,000 deposits for almost a decade with nothing to present for it.
The situation grew to become very public in October 2025 when OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attempted to cancel his Roadster reservation, which he had positioned in July 2018, solely to discover that Tesla’s contact e-mail for the Roadster program had been shut down. Altman publicly aired his frustration, calling it an extended wait. Musk responded by claiming the refund was processed inside 24 hours — however solely after the state of affairs went public.
Tesla additionally promised some 80 free Roadsters to homeowners who referred sufficient automobile purchases and provided important reductions on a whole bunch extra models by its referral program. None of these commitments have been fulfilled.
Meanwhile, the aggressive panorama has shifted dramatically since 2017. While Tesla was busy not constructing the Roadster, Xiaomi’s SU7 Ultra and BYD’s Yangwang U9 Xtreme have already set real-world efficiency information. The Rimac Nevera has been in buyer arms for years.
Electrek’s Take
I’ll consider it after I see it. Fool me as soon as, disgrace on you. Fool me 167 occasions, which is what I really feel Tesla has achieved to all of us with the new Roadster, disgrace on me.
We have been protecting this automobile since its prototype debut in 2017, and at each flip, Musk has pushed again the timeline with new guarantees that proved equally hole. We’re now on no less than the seventh promised manufacturing date, and we nonetheless haven’t seen a production-intent automobile — simply emblems, job listings, and tweets.
The shift from “demo” to “unveil” is fascinating, and the trademark filings recommend Tesla has no less than been doing a little work. But even when an unveil does occur this month, manufacturing is nonetheless focused for 2027-2028. That means the primary prospects who put down deposits in 2017 may have waited a full decade earlier than getting their vehicles — if it occurs in any respect.
What makes this particularly irritating is that the efficiency claims have solely grown extra outlandish because the delays have mounted. We went from 1.9-second 0-60 to below one second. We went from a sports activities automobile to a automobile with rocket thrusters. At some level, the Roadster stopped being a automobile in growth and have become a hype machine. We genuinely hope Tesla proves us flawed this month.
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