Elon Musk couldn’t hide his delight after unveiling his new Tesla supercar “The Roadster” that could fly and hit 60 mph in under a second.
The SpaceX founder, 55, told guests at an event held at a SpaceX site in McGregor, Texas, on Thursday that the next-generation all-electric vehicle “can basically fly like a rocket”, can do “rolls”, and “crazy gymnastics” while it was being showcased.
“Well it worked,” Musk quipped alongside Tesla’s Vice President of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy and Tesla’s Chief Designer Franz von Wolzhausen after the demonstration passed without any accident.
Musk said he thought he was “crazy” when he suggested the concept of the Roadster 2 to his team, teasing that the vehicle was “better than any James Bond car.”
“We need an audience to prove that it’s not AI or SI,” Musk told the crowd. “So, you guys can tell people that you saw it with your eyes. Because what you see with your eyes, you will not believe.
“You’re going to see what happens when you have a collaboration with the world’s best car company and the world’s best rocket company. This is the culmination of incredible work by Tesla and Space X engineers working closely together to make something that you haven’t seen in any movie.”
The car drove upside down on a curved ramp using a suction system and turned in the air.
“We have a fan suction system on the bottom of the car that can pull up to 2Gs (twice the force of gravity) in order to make the car upside down,” Moravy said, explaining the function.
“Then we borrowed some technology from SpaceX to do the rest. This car really sucks. This car could suck the chrome off a trailer hitch. It could suck a tennis ball through a hose pipe,” Moravy added.
Tesla’s Roadster will be its only manually driven car that it makes.
The car, which didn’t have a human driver inside because Musk didn’t want to “kill anyone,” landed using its built-in thrusters.
The car, which has a steer-by-wire system built in, then performed a kick-flip demo in the next segment of the presentation.
It zoomed towards a truck and other cars part of the Tesla fleet before thrusting up into the air to an altitude of around 21 feet before rotating and landing.
The car, which can reach a top speed of up to 230 mph and has a battery range of at least 300 miles, was engulfed in the cloud of smoke produced by the jets.
A zero to 60 mph speed test was carried out and the car clocked a time of 0.81 seconds. But Musk suggested the car might be able to exceed its 230 mph top speed.
“I think you got to crack halfway to the speed of sound — Mach 0.5,” he said, which was met with sniggers by Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla’s Chief Designer, and Moravy.
Fans were left in awe by what they had seen during the event, which was livestreamed by Tesla.
“Elon Musk just made Turbo Boost a reality,” one said, including a nod to the iconic scene from the 1980s show “Knight Rider” where Michael Knight, played by David Hasselhoff, pressed the turbo boost button on K.I.T.T’s dashboard.
“A bunch of guys my age have been waiting our whole lives for this.”
“Turns out the future does have flying cars,” Musk later quipped on X, reveling in the achievement.
Musk has previously teased the prospect of flying cars.
During an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” last October, Musk teased the demonstration would be “unforgettable” and said, “I think it has a shot of being the most memorable product unveil ever.”
Production will start in 2028 and a “performance” version of the vehicle requires a $50,000 deposit.
A so-called “Thrust” version that comes with “acceleration thrusters” will require a $250,000 deposit.
During the event, Musk claimed the car will be “on the roads” before slightly backtracking.
“You know I’m not necessarily sure it’s legal in all jurisdictions,” he said.
“But there will be such a car that someone can own.”
“Depends on your street, but it’ll be a viable car,” he said in response to an audience member if the car would be road legal.
Tesla’s new Roadster comes 18 years after the original Roadster, Tesla’s first EV, hit the market.
The company is shifting its focus towards artificial intelligence-led self- driving tech and robotics.
Tesla has stopped selling its Model S and X cars. The company will publish its Q3 2026 financial results on Oct. 21.
