Tesla’s next-generation Roadster climbed an inverted ramp near Waco, Texas, then lifted itself over a line of Tesla vehicles on Thursday night — a product demonstration that treated the road less as a destination than as a launch pad. At SpaceX’s McGregor test site on 15 October, Tesla used a fan-based suction system and cold-gas thrusters to show a redesigned electric sports car driving upside down, rotating and hopping over a Model 3, Model Y, Cybertruck, Semi and Cybercab. The Verge reported that Tesla vice-president of engineering Lars Moravy described one manoeuvre as a “kick flip”.
\nThe practical question is simpler than the spectacle: what would an owner use a flying Roadster for? Tesla’s answer, at least in its product categories, is that most buyers would not be buying the airborne version. The company lists a road-ready Performance model without thrusters, a race-ready Thrust version with rear cold-gas thrusters, and an invite-only, single-seat Rocket model with thrusters around its perimeter.
\nTesla’s website says the Rocket is “not approved for public road use”. That distinction turns the launch into something closer to a rolling laboratory and a halo-car advertisement than a new answer to the commuter’s traffic jam. The Roadster can make a dramatic short hop in a controlled demonstration.
\nTesla has not set out a public consumer use case for doing so between traffic lights, nor disclosed a retail price for any version.
\n“It was an engineering flex with no commercial value beyond embarrassing traditional car makers,” Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management said after the event.\n
Tesla says the Performance version can reach 60mph in under 1.6 seconds. It says the Thrust model can do so in under 0.9 seconds, while the Rocket version can reach 60mph in under 0.59 seconds and exceed 230mph. Those are manufacturer targets, not independently verified performance results.
\nThe company says all three versions will have 300 miles of range and has set a 2028 production target. That date lands nine years after Tesla first presented a second-generation Roadster in 2017, when it had promised initial deliveries in 2020. The new structure also separates conventional supercar excess from the SpaceX-inflected theatre of the launch.
\nThe Performance version is described by Tesla as road ready. The Thrust version brings rear cold-gas propulsion to a race-ready car. The Rocket version is a single-seater marketed as air ready — but explicitly barred from public roads under Tesla’s present description.
\nThat leaves regulation as more than a footnote. A car sold for public roads must meet applicable vehicle-safety requirements; a vehicle designed to lift itself through the air would invite further questions about how transport authorities treat its propulsion, operating conditions and safety systems. Tesla’s public Rocket listing does not claim road approval.
\nIt is not an aircraft certification announcement, either. For now, the most tangible use of the thrusters appears to be acceleration, handling demonstrations and brief aerial stunts. The McGregor display showed why the technology attracts attention: fans and thrust can add forces that tyres alone cannot provide.
\nIt did not demonstrate a vehicle equipped for ordinary urban flight, routine refuelling or road use.
\naccording to TechCrunch. The Performance reservation costs $50,000, while the Thrust reservation costs $250,000; the Rocket is invite only. Tesla has not announced the cars’ final purchase prices.
\nThose deposits put substantial customer money behind a programme with a long history of missed expectations. Musk said after the event that Tesla would build the car in 2028. The earlier Roadster delay is especially relevant because the new reveal adds hardware that will need to move from a closed test site to a manufacturable consumer product.
\nMusk celebrated the event on X by writing that the future does have flying cars. Online reaction captured the split more bluntly. Technology reviewer Marques Brownlee called the claims and production timetable hard to credit, while Tesla supporter Sawyer Merritt hailed the display as an extraordinary product demonstration, Business Insider reported.
\nThe divide matters for Tesla because the Roadster is arriving as the company tries to broaden its story beyond its core electric-car business. Tesla delivered 486,532 vehicles in the third quarter, according to its production and delivery report as cited by Electrek. Model 3 and Model Y accounted for 478,237 of them — about 98 per cent.
\nTesla shares rose about 2 per cent in Friday morning trading after the reveal, the Boston Globe reported. The market response suggested that spectacle still has value, even when the product’s route to customers is distant.
","keyPoints":["Tesla’s next-generation Roadster climbed an inverted ramp near Waco, Texas, then lifted itself over a line of Tesla vehicles on Thursday night — a product demonstration that treated the road less as a destination…","At SpaceX’s McGregor test site on 15 October, Tesla used a fan-based suction system and cold-gas thrusters to show a redesigned electric sports car driving upside down, rotating and hopping over a Model 3, Model Y,…","The Verge reported that Tesla vice-president of engineering Lars Moravy described one manoeuvre as a “kick flip”.","The practical question is simpler than the spectacle: what would an owner use a flying Roadster for?"],"wordCount":765,"keywords":["tesla","version","roadster","model","product","rocket","thrusters","performance"],"section":"Business","sectionSlug":"business","articleType":"news","author":{"name":"The Last Daily","url":"https://www.thelastdaily.com/about"},"publisher":{"name":"The Last Daily","url":"https://www.thelastdaily.com"},"datePublished":"2026-10-17T08:46:26.325Z","dateModified":"2026-10-17T08:46:26.366Z","image":{"url":"https://www.thelastdaily.com/manus-storage/generated/1792163288175_938aa80d.png","desktopCropUrl":"https://www.thelastdaily.com/manus-storage/illustrations/story-1950001/portrait-or-place-desktop_b1a3523b.webp","mobileCropUrl":"https://www.thelastdaily.com/manus-storage/illustrations/story-1950001/portrait-or-place-mobile_8964ab12.webp","alt":"Portrait or place editorial illustration for “Tesla’s Roadster Turns a Product Reveal Into a Flight Test”."},"sources":[{"id":1740001,"title":"Tesla’s New Roadster Can Fly, But Gene Munster Sees ‘No Commercial Value’ Beyond Tesla-SpaceX Hint","url":"https://stocktwits.com/news-articles/markets/equity/tsla-stock-thrust-flying-roadster-reveal-munster-engineering-flex-tesla-spacex-clue/cZx0oWSRBrs","domain":"stocktwits.com","sourceType":"analysis","publicationDate":null},{"id":1740005,"title":"Tesla reveals SpaceX-powered Roadster that flies and falls with style | TechCrunch","url":"https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/15/tesla-reveals-spacex-powered-roadster-that-flies-and-falls-with-style/","domain":"techcrunch.com","sourceType":"news_report","publicationDate":null},{"id":1740009,"title":"Tesla (TSLA) Q3 2026 deliveries slip 2% to 486,532, but beat estimates | Electrek","url":"https://electrek.co/2026/10/02/tesla-q3-2026-deliveries-486532/","domain":"electrek.co","sourceType":"data","publicationDate":null},{"id":1740013,"title":"The World Reacts to Elon Musk's Flying Car - Business Insider","url":"https://www.businessinsider.com/reactions-elon-musk-roadster-flying-car-2026-10","domain":"businessinsider.com","sourceType":"news_report","publicationDate":null},{"id":1740016,"title":"The Tesla Roadster flew, drove upside down, and hit 60mph in under a second | The Verge","url":"https://www.theverge.com/transportation/1012552/tesla-roadster-next-gen-reveal-elon-musk","domain":"theverge.com","sourceType":"news_report","publicationDate":null},{"id":1740018,"title":"Tesla's new car can thrust in the air, bur production won't begin soon","url":"https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/10/16/business/tesla-roadster-car-thrust/","domain":"bostonglobe.com","sourceType":"news_report","publicationDate":null}],"citation":[{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Tesla’s New Roadster Can Fly, But Gene Munster Sees ‘No Commercial Value’ Beyond Tesla-SpaceX Hint","url":"https://stocktwits.com/news-articles/markets/equity/tsla-stock-thrust-flying-roadster-reveal-munster-engineering-flex-tesla-spacex-clue/cZx0oWSRBrs","datePublished":null},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Tesla reveals SpaceX-powered Roadster that flies and falls with style | TechCrunch","url":"https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/15/tesla-reveals-spacex-powered-roadster-that-flies-and-falls-with-style/","datePublished":null},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Tesla (TSLA) Q3 2026 deliveries slip 2% to 486,532, but beat estimates | Electrek","url":"https://electrek.co/2026/10/02/tesla-q3-2026-deliveries-486532/","datePublished":null},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"The World Reacts to Elon Musk's Flying Car - Business Insider","url":"https://www.businessinsider.com/reactions-elon-musk-roadster-flying-car-2026-10","datePublished":null},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"The Tesla Roadster flew, drove upside down, and hit 60mph in under a second | The Verge","url":"https://www.theverge.com/transportation/1012552/tesla-roadster-next-gen-reveal-elon-musk","datePublished":null},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Tesla's new car can thrust in the air, bur production won't begin soon","url":"https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/10/16/business/tesla-roadster-car-thrust/","datePublished":null}],"claims":[],"corrections":[],"rights":{"read":true,"redistribution":"link-and-attribute-only"}}