Tesla Roadster unveil planned for August with SpaceX thruster demoTesla is planning to unveil its redesigned Roadster as early as this month, with a demonstration that includes the vehicle lifting off the ground using SpaceX-developed cold gas thrusters, according to Electrek.The event is scheduled for SpaceX's rocket test facility in McGregor, Texas. The thrusters produce enough noise to risk hearing injury, so the vehicle will run without anyone inside while onlookers are positioned a few hundred yards away, according to Reuters. Whether Tesla will stream the event live or release edited footage afterward is not known.Elon Musk has told staff in recent weeks that the demonstration will be difficult to execute and could go wrong, but that it will be entertaining regardless, according to Electrek, citing unnamed sources.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe limited-edition model Tesla intends to demonstrate in Texas would not be road-legal and may carry a price tag in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even into the millions, according to Reuters. Internally, Tesla has floated the idea of offering the limited edition to a select group of customers via an arrangement resembling Ferrari's XX Programme, where participants operate closed-course vehicles with oversight.The standard Roadster and the limited SpaceX-branded edition are expected to look similar.The Roadster's development has taken a roundabout path. In 2022, two internal teams were pursuing different approaches — one based on Model S Plaid components, the other built around a carbon fiber structure. Musk selected the carbon fiber approach, a direction that required Tesla to bring in outside engineering talent, including hires from Italian automakers. Design chief Franz von Holzhausen said this week that the Roadster is coming "very soon."The original plan for the demo was more ambitious. Earlier concepts had the car launching up a magnetized ramp, flipping inverted, recovering, and sustaining flight, ambitions that have since been substantially pared down. "We started off thinking we were almost making an aircraft and ended up with something closer to hovering," one person with knowledge of the program said.AdvertisementAdvertisementTesla posted a sharp drop in profitability in its most recent quarter, with GAAP operating income falling 57% year over year to $398 million as capital expenditures jumped 142% to $5.79 billion. Tesla stock is down nearly 30% in 2026.Tesla introduced the next-generation Roadster back in 2017, at which point it projected the car would reach customers by 2020. Reservation holders paid $50,000 to hold a standard model and $250,000 for the Founders Series, and the launch date has slipped again and again in the years since. Tesla filed new Roadster trademarks in May.
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