The Tesla Roadster Is Finally Back

The second-generation Tesla Roadster has one of the longest development stories of any modern performance car.

Tesla originally revealed the new Roadster concept back in 2017, with production initially expected much sooner. Instead, the project suffered repeated delays while Tesla concentrated on higher-volume vehicles, autonomous driving, robotics and other projects.

Fast-forward to October 2026 and Tesla has now demonstrated a heavily redesigned Roadster that takes the project considerably further than the original concept.

Production is currently targeted for 2028, meaning buyers will still have some time to wait before production cars begin appearing on the road.

How Fast Is the New Tesla Roadster?

Performance has always been the main attraction of the Roadster, but Tesla's latest claims move it firmly into hypercar territory.

A sub-one-second sprint from 0–60 mph would be extraordinary. For comparison, many of today's fastest production supercars and electric performance cars require roughly two seconds to reach the same speed.

However, these are manufacturer claims and prototype demonstrations. The specification of the final road-going production vehicle will need to be independently tested before those figures can be treated as confirmed performance numbers.

What Is the SpaceX Package?

This is where the new Roadster becomes particularly unusual.

Tesla and SpaceX have worked together on a system using rocket-style cold-gas thrusters. Rather than relying exclusively on the electric motors and tyres to accelerate the vehicle, the system can generate additional thrust.

During Tesla's 2026 demonstration, the technology was used to showcase abilities far beyond what you would normally associate with a road car, including dramatic aerial manoeuvres.

It effectively turns the Roadster into an engineering showcase for what can happen when electric vehicle technology and aerospace engineering are combined.

Yes, Tesla Made the Roadster Leave the Ground

Elon Musk has spent years suggesting that a future Roadster could potentially hover or briefly leave the ground.

That once sounded more like science fiction than a realistic vehicle feature. Tesla's latest prototype demonstration, however, has shown that the company has genuinely been experimenting with this technology.

The Roadster demonstrated rocket-assisted aerial manoeuvres using a combination of specialised aerodynamic technology and thrusters.

Whether anything approaching this capability will be permitted on public roads is another question entirely.

Three Versions of the Roadster

Tesla has indicated that the new Roadster programme will include different versions rather than a single specification.

What About the Range?

Range has become slightly more complicated than it appeared when the Roadster was originally announced.

The original 2017 concept was famously associated with a target of around 620 miles from a single charge. Since then, the vehicle has undergone substantial redesign work and the performance targets have changed.

Tesla has not yet provided all the final homologated figures that will apply to each production version of the redesigned Roadster.

Until the final battery capacity, vehicle weight, wheel and tyre specification and official testing figures are released, it is better to treat quoted range numbers as targets rather than guaranteed real-world figures.

Why Electric Cars Can Accelerate So Quickly

One of the biggest advantages of an electric motor is that it can generate huge amounts of torque almost instantly.

A traditional petrol engine needs to build engine speed and transfer power through a gearbox before reaching maximum performance. An electric drivetrain can react almost immediately when the accelerator is pressed.

Combine that instant torque with sophisticated traction control and multiple electric motors and the result can be astonishing acceleration.

The biggest limitation eventually becomes the amount of grip available from the tyres rather than simply how much power the motors can produce.

That is one reason Tesla's use of additional thrust is so interesting: it potentially adds acceleration that is not entirely dependent on transmitting power through the tyres.

Is the Roadster Really a Supercar or a Hypercar?

On performance alone, the latest Roadster targets figures normally associated with the world's most extreme hypercars.

Cars from manufacturers such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Rimac, Koenigsegg and Bugatti have traditionally occupied this part of the market.

Tesla is approaching the problem differently.

Instead of developing an enormous petrol engine or a complex hybrid drivetrain, Tesla is combining high-output electric motors, battery technology, advanced vehicle control systems and potentially even aerospace-derived thrusters.

If the production vehicle delivers anything close to the demonstrated performance, calling it simply a sports car might be underselling it.

How Much Will the New Tesla Roadster Cost?

Final UK pricing for the latest production versions has not yet been confirmed.

The original Roadster programme was expected to sit firmly in supercar territory, while the increasingly exotic technology being developed for the latest versions could make certain specifications considerably more expensive.

With production still targeted for 2028, there is plenty of time for specifications and pricing to change before customer vehicles are built.

When Can You Buy One?

This is probably the biggest question surrounding the Roadster.

Tesla currently intends to begin production in 2028.

Considering the Roadster was first announced in 2017 and has already experienced several delays, that target should still be treated with some caution.

The important difference this time is that Tesla has now demonstrated its substantially redesigned vehicle and some of the technology being developed for it.

Could the Tesla Roadster Change Performance Cars?

The original Tesla Roadster helped prove that an electric car did not have to be slow or boring.

Nearly two decades later, virtually every major performance manufacturer is now investing heavily in electrification.

The next-generation Roadster appears designed to make another statement: electric performance does not necessarily have to replicate what petrol supercars already do.

Instant torque, highly accurate motor control, advanced software and aerospace-inspired technology could allow manufacturers to develop performance characteristics that simply aren't possible with a traditional combustion drivetrain.

Our Verdict

The new Tesla Roadster is undoubtedly one of the most ambitious vehicles Tesla has attempted to build.

Sub-one-second acceleration claims and SpaceX-derived thrusters sound more like specifications from a video game than a production car. Yet Tesla has now demonstrated that at least some of the technology exists beyond a PowerPoint presentation or concept drawing.

There are still plenty of unanswered questions. We don't yet have final UK pricing, homologated range figures or the complete specification of the production vehicles.

And with production currently scheduled for 2028, the Roadster story certainly isn't finished yet.

But if Tesla can translate its latest prototype into a road-legal production car, the Roadster could become one of the most extraordinary electric vehicles ever built.