Key Highlights

  • Tesla showed its next-generation Roadster from a SpaceX test site in McGregor, Texas, nine years after first revealing the concept.
  • Tesla said the car, fitted with SpaceX thrusters, reaches 60 miles per hour from a standstill in under a second.
  • Musk said production starts in 2028, with no price announced and no automated driving system on the car.
  • The unveiling added to speculation about a Tesla and SpaceX merger, with Tesla’s third-quarter results due on Wednesday.

The Unveiling

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) showed its long-delayed next-generation Roadster on Thursday, October 15, almost a decade after the company started taking deposits for the electric sports car. The event was livestreamed from a test site belonging to SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) in McGregor, Texas, near Waco, starting at 8:55 p.m. Eastern time.

Chief Executive Elon Musk appeared alongside the company’s design chief and a vehicle engineering executive. Musk said the night showed the results of a collaboration between the world’s best car company and the world’s best rocket company.

On stage, a white sports car raced up a curved ramp, clung to it upside down and vaulted off, flipping in mid-air and hovering slowly before landing. Tesla’s timer showed the two-seater going from zero to 60 miles per hour in under a second.

What Was Shown and What Was Not

The prototype is built to be as lightweight as possible, with a steer-by-wire system, a steering yoke and technologies developed by SpaceX. These include thrusters, carbon overlay pressure vessels, diffusers and powerful fans that enable the car’s aerial maneuvers.

Musk said the Roadster enters production in 2028. The price was not announced, and the company disclosed no specifications for other performance variants. It remains unclear whether the vehicle is street-legal, with Musk saying on stage that it is not necessarily a safety-optimized car.

Tesla left its “FSD” automated driving system out of the Roadster. Musk said it is the last vehicle the company produces that is intended to be controlled by a human driver.

The model is positioned as a high-end, low-volume product that relies on SpaceX technology to hover.

A Decade of Deposits and Delays

Tesla started taking USD 50,000 deposits for the revamped Roadster in 2017 and has since missed every targeted delivery date. As recently as last October, Musk was promoting a Roadster demonstration that he hoped to hold before the end of 2025, and that did not take place either.

Tesla reopened reservations in recent weeks, accepting USD 50,000 deposits from prospective buyers in the United States, Canada and China.

The original Roadster, designed and engineered by a team led by founding CEO Martin Eberhard, was based on a Lotus Elise chassis. It was first delivered in 2008 and sold in small volumes for roughly USD 100,000 until 2012.

In 2017 and 2018, Musk described a SpaceX option package for the new Roadster that included about 10 small rocket thrusters arranged around the car, improving speed and braking and, in his words, “even allow a Tesla to fly.”

One reservation holder, who runs a computing company and reserved a Founder’s Edition in November 2017, described his USD 250,000 deposit as an interest-free loan to the company. After the event, he called what he saw off the charts.

Merger Talk Around Two Companies

The unveiling added to speculation about a possible merger between Tesla and SpaceX. Musk’s companies have worked with and paid each other for years, even sharing some personnel, and the collaboration has increased in 2026.

Speculation about a tie-up has swirled since SpaceX went public in June. Ahead of the offering, a senior SpaceX executive suggested that a merger “might make Elon’s life a little easier.” A bank analyst forecast in a note this week that such a transaction happens before the end of 2026.

SpaceX is valued at about USD 2 trillion and Tesla has a market capitalization of USD 1.4 trillion, making them two of just 12 US companies worth at least USD 1 trillion.

Earnings on Wednesday

Tesla is scheduled to report third-quarter results after the market closes on Wednesday. The report brings the first set of quarterly figures since the Roadster event and the latest round of merger speculation.