When will the new Tesla Roadster arrive? Not even Elon Musk knows

The CEO's comments on the electric hypercar are becoming increasingly vague: "Dessert comes after the important things for the planet".

By: Riccardo Ciriaco

Oct 26, 2024 at 3:52am ET

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Elon Musk has surprised us again. Anyone expecting the classic "next year" answer to the question of when the new Tesla Roadster will arrive will probably have been disappointed. In fact, very disappointed. Because the CEO was even more vague than usual.

"It hasn't arrived", said the histrionic boss, "because it's not just the icing on the cake. Our mission is to accelerate progress towards a sustainable energy future and to do things that maximise the likelihood of a positive future for humanity and the Earth.

We'd all like to focus on the next generation Tesla Roadster", he continued. "It's a lot of fun and we're working on it, but dessert comes after the things that have a bigger impact on the good of the world".

Delay after delay

In short, according to Elon Musk, the time hasn't come. So the electric hypercar can wait. Yet it was in 2017 that the CEO showed the world his next creature, presenting it as a remake of the car that launched Tesla into the world of electric cars, produced and sold 2,450 units from 2008 to 2012.

The new Tesla Roadster

Left back three-quarter

It was supposed to come out in 2020, but then, due to a pandemic and the CEO's over-excitement, version 2.0 of the Roadster was pushed back to "next year", every year, including 2025, as Elon Musk himself promised just three months ago, only now he's taken a step backwards. On the bright side, Tesla is said to be "close to finalising the design" and will produce "something truly spectacular".

"My friend Peter Thiel", the CEO added, referring to his former partner in PayPal, "was complaining that the future won't know flying cars. Well, we'll see..."

An old Tesla Roadster

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So Musk remains hopeful of not only building the new Tesla Roadster, but also equipping it with a SpaceX rocket to get it off the ground. Whether that's literally or figuratively remains to be seen.

Unlike the Model 2, it seems that the project has not disappeared, but has been delayed. What remains, however, is the deposit of $50,000 (approx. £39,000) or even $250,000 (£193,000), paid by those who had booked the hypercar with some enthusiasm.