Key takeaways
- Tesla claims 0-60 mph in under 0.59 seconds for top-tier versions, but the live demo clock showed about one second, and Mashable read an apparent 0.81 seconds.
- Top speed is claimed at 230 mph-plus, though outlets disagree on whether that covers all three trims, and Musk's halfway-to-the-speed-of-sound talk is an aspiration, not a spec.
- Wired reports four thrusters while TechCrunch and Mashable report ten, and the accounts haven't been reconciled.
- Reservations for Performance ($50,000 total) and Thrust ($250,000 total) are open, but no final price or firm 2028 delivery date has been announced.
Tesla’s next-generation Roadster finally has a spec sheet, sort of. At a livestreamed event on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, at SpaceX’s test site in McGregor, Texas, Elon Musk said the car will enter production in 2028, and Tesla posted three variants afterward. No price was announced for any of them.
The major outlets don’t agree on the numbers. 0-60 times, top speed, thruster count and range all shift depending on who you read. Everything below is a Tesla claim from a staged demo, not an independent test, so I’ve sorted each figure into claimed, shown or unknown.
What the demo actually showed
The car drove up a curved ramp and clung to it upside down on underbody suction fans, leapt off, flipped upright with thrusters and landed on the stage. In a second demo it jumped over Tesla’s vehicle line-up with a barrel roll Tesla called the kick-flip.
TechCrunch lists the cars it cleared as the Cybercab, Cybertruck, Semi, Model Y and Model 3. TechRadar describes the jump as autonomous, with no human driver, for safety reasons. Wired calls it human-piloted, but that’s a figure of speech there. So nobody has yet seen a person pilot these maneuvers.
0-60 changes depending on who’s counting
Tesla’s claim runs from under 0.59 seconds on top-tier versions to under 1.6 seconds on the Performance trim. The demo clock showed about one second. Those are different things, and the gap between them is the main reason to wait for independent testing.
Per TechRadar, Tesla claims under 1.6 seconds for Performance and under 0.9 seconds for Thrust. The under-0.59 figure is attributed to top-tier versions without naming which one. Wired, CNBC and TechCrunch all describe the on-stage time as about a second, or under one, on Tesla’s timer. Mashable read an apparent 0.81 seconds off that timer, which is the outlet’s own reading, not a Tesla number. For scale, Mashable compares it with the Rimac Nevera R’s 1.66 seconds.
Top speed claims range from 230 to about 385 mph
Tesla’s stated figure is 230 mph or more. Whether that applies to every trim depends on the outlet, and Musk’s much higher number is a hope rather than a specification.
TechRadar says over 230 mph applies to top-tier versions only. TechCrunch says 230-plus on all three trims. Wired reports that Lars Moravy said Tesla hopes to reach 230, while Mashable has him saying 230 but indicating the car would go a lot faster. Musk, for his part, talked about getting halfway to the speed of sound. Wired converts that to roughly 385 mph and Mashable to roughly 370 mph. Same remark, two conversions.
Musk also told the crowd that the car’s acceleration and cornering would beat any track record set before it. That’s a promise, and the only top speed with any engineering behind it so far is the 230.
Four thrusters or ten?
The outlets split. Wired reports four thrusters, while TechCrunch and Mashable report ten. Mashable ties the ten cold-gas thrusters to the Rocket trim, but none of the accounts explains the discrepancy.
TechCrunch quotes Moravy as saying the car has 10 thrusters fed by 600 liters of compressed air, with every usable void packed with carbon-fiber overwrapped pressure vessels. The thrusters are SpaceX-developed and run on compressed air, so no special propellant is needed. Musk said the tank can be recharged. TechRadar reports the rear thrusters produce up to 80 kN of thrust, a Tesla claim. Ten also matches a 2018 Musk tweet about a SpaceX option package adding about 10 small thrusters.
How long a tank lasts and how fast it refills? Not yet reported.
What does each Roadster trim get?
Tesla’s site and X posts describe three variants. Performance is the road car without thrusters, Thrust adds rear thrusters, and Rocket adds a full flight system. Only the first two can be reserved right now.
- Performance (road ready): two seats, active aero and the suction system, no thrusters. Tesla’s 0-60 claim is under 1.6 seconds. Reserve with $5,000 now and $45,000 within 10 days.
- Thrust (race ready): two seats and rear cold-gas thrusters. Claimed 0-60 is under 0.9 seconds. It’s listed as limited, one order per customer, subject to each region’s legal requirements. Reserve with $5,000 now and $245,000 within 10 days.
- Rocket (air ready): one seat and a full flight system. It’s invite only, and reservations aren’t open. No price reported.
Outlets describe these inconsistently. CNBC says Tesla didn’t disclose specs for the other variants at the event. The details came afterward on X and the website. TechCrunch and TechRadar place the suction system on Performance, while Mashable says Thrust and Rocket get it too.
Road legality is open. TechRadar’s inference is that Thrust is very probably track-only and Performance probably the only road-legal version. That isn’t a Tesla statement.
Range is claimed at 300 miles, or more than 300 per Wired. TechCrunch says that holds on all trims. Engadget notes the 2017 promise for the earlier concept was 620 miles. Battery size hasn’t been reported.
What this means if you’re eyeing a reservation
You’d be putting down real money without a final price. Tesla is asking $5,000 now and the rest within 10 days, which comes to $50,000 for Performance and $250,000 for Thrust. CNBC frames it as $50,000 deposits in the US, Canada and China.
The 2028 production date also carries history. Musk pushed the Roadster back in 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024, then floated the end of 2025 and April 1, 2026. A planned Oct. 1, 2026 event slipped because of severe weather. The 2017 reveal took $50,000 deposits, and some buyers paid $250,000 for one of 1,000 Founders Series cars. Sam Altman, who mocked the delays on X, was refunded. Musk said it took 24 hours.
Other things worth knowing before you commit: the car is left-hand drive only, it won’t have FSD, and Musk called it the last Tesla meant to be driven by a human. He’s also upfront about safety.
“This is not necessarily a safety-optimized car.” — Elon Musk, per Wired
Analysts quoted by CNBC and TechCrunch call it a low-volume halo car, and Musk himself said he’s not sure it moves the needle on revenue. If you want a Tesla in a driveway before 2028, the Model Y and Model 3 that the Roadster hopped over are in the line-up.
Still missing from the spec sheet
Quite a lot. No outlet has a price for any trim, a firm delivery date inside 2028, or battery and powertrain details. The real top speed, 230 mph or something near 370 to 385, is unresolved. So is which 0-60 figure holds up on a timed run.
Flight is the biggest blank. How far or how long the car can fly or hop on one tank, and how quickly the tank refills, hasn’t been reported. Neither has whether Thrust or Rocket will be road-legal anywhere, or how US regulators will respond. The safety question of packing a car’s voids with high-pressure vessels is raised in coverage, with no answer. And Tesla hasn’t said how many 2017 reservation holders, Founders Series included, will be honored, or on what terms.
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Frequently asked questions
How fast is the new Tesla Roadster 0-60?
Tesla claims under 0.59 seconds on top-tier versions, under 0.9 seconds for Thrust and under 1.6 seconds for Performance. The demo timer showed about one second, and Mashable read an apparent 0.81 seconds. None of it has been independently tested.
How much does the Tesla Roadster cost?
No final price has been announced for any variant. Tesla is taking $5,000 now plus $45,000 within 10 days for Performance, and $5,000 plus $245,000 for Thrust. Rocket is invite only.
When will the Tesla Roadster be released?
Musk said production starts in 2028 and gave no more precise date. He has pushed the car back several times since 2017.
Can the new Tesla Roadster really fly?
In the demo it leapt off a ramp, flipped upright with cold-gas thrusters and landed on stage. Flight duration and distance haven't been reported, and the Rocket trim with the full flight system is invite only.
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Sources
This article was compiled from reporting by the following outlets. Links go to the original reports.
- TechRadar: Tesla’s new Roadster can do a barrel roll, climb walls and hit 230mph
- Wired: The Tesla Roadster 2 Is Here—and It Flies
- CNBC Top: Tesla reveals next-generation Roadster after almost a decade of delays
- TechCrunch: Tesla reveals SpaceX-powered Roadster that flies and falls with style
- Mashable: Tesla unveils new Roadster and yes, it can actually fly
- Engadget: Tesla Roadster reveal live: Updates from the launch of the next-gen sportscar
