Tesla unveils new Roadster that uses SpaceX thrusters to fly, production pushed to 2028

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk presented a redesigned, next-generation Roadster during a livestreamed event on October 15, 2026, at a SpaceX facility near Waco, Texas, according to CBS News and TechCrunch. The demonstration combined an underbody fan system with cold-gas thrusters built with components from SpaceX, Musk's rocket company.

What happened at the demo

According to CBS News and TechCrunch, the prototype drove up a curved, inverted ramp while an underbody fan system generated enough downforce to keep the car stuck to the surface upside down. The vehicle then fired cold-gas thrusters, described by TechCrunch as ten units fed by 600 liters of compressed air, to launch into the air, clear a lineup of five other Tesla models — a Cybercab, Cybertruck, Tesla Semi, Model Y and Model 3, according to TechCrunch — perform a roll, and land on its wheels.

NBC News reported the car completed a barrel roll roughly 27 feet above ground before touching down. After the maneuver succeeded, Musk said on stage, "Well, it worked!" according to NBC News. He also joked that the fan-based downforce system worked like a vacuum, pulling the car onto the track surface.

CBS News reported Musk described the project as a collaboration between Tesla, which he called the world's best car company, and SpaceX, which he called the world's best rocket company, while adding that success was not guaranteed, though he said he believed it would probably work.

Performance figures and versions

NBC News reported a 0-to-60-mph time of 0.81 seconds during the event; other outlets, including CBS News and TechCrunch, described the sprint simply as "under one second." TechCrunch reported a top speed exceeding 230 mph and a range of about 300 miles across all variants.

The figures come from TechCrunch's reporting on the event. CBS News separately reported a $5,000 deposit for a non-flying model of the Roadster, a lower figure than TechCrunch's reported deposit for the Performance trim; the two outlets did not clearly specify whether they were describing the same reservation tier. Tesla has not announced a final retail price for any version, and CBS News reported that manufacturing is not set to begin until 2028, with no delivery date confirmed.

Safety and regulatory questions

CBS News reported that Tesla's own website states the flight-capable model is not approved for use on public roads, and that it remains unclear which federal agency, or agencies, would have regulatory oversight of a thruster-equipped road vehicle. TechCrunch noted that Musk had previously said that safety was not the main goal for this version of the car.

Reaction to the demonstration was mixed. TechCrunch reported that technology reviewer Marques Brownlee questioned the feasibility of the stunt, expressing skepticism that a newly designed car weighing more than 4,000 pounds could perform such maneuvers and suggesting the presentation might be a prank.

A long-delayed car and merger speculation

NBC News reported that the second-generation Roadster was first unveiled in 2017 with production originally promised for 2020; Tesla has pushed back the timeline repeatedly over the following eight years while still accepting reservations.

The event also revived speculation about closer ties between Tesla and SpaceX. According to TipRanks, Tesla shares rose roughly 4% and SpaceX gained in related trading on October 16, the day after the reveal. Analyst Dan Ives pointed to the propulsion, pressure-vessel and control hardware shared between the two companies as evidence of engineering overlap, and had previously put the odds of a Tesla-SpaceX merger by 2027 at 80%, TipRanks reported. Tesla and SpaceX have not announced any merger.

Background: Tesla and SpaceX's earlier Roadster

This is not the first time a Tesla Roadster has been tied to SpaceX hardware. Musk's personal first-generation Roadster was launched into space on February 6, 2018, as the test payload of the debut Falcon Heavy rocket flight, according to Wikipedia's entry on Falcon Heavy. That car, with a mannequin called "Starman" in the driver's seat, was sent into a heliocentric orbit that approaches the orbit of Mars and remains in space.