Elon Musk Says the New Tesla Roadster Will Be Revealed Very Soon. Can We Believe Him?
- The Tesla Roadster will finally be revealed to the world on October 1, according to the company’s CEO, Elon Musk.
- Last year, Musk said the new second-generation Roadster would be revealed on April 1, 2026, but that date was obviously pushed back like many times before.
- The Roadster concept pictured above was first revealed all the way back in 2017, but the performance claims and reveal dates have changed since then.
If you’re one of the Tesla fans who have been waiting patiently for what’s coming up on 10 years for the brand to reveal its hotly anticipated Roadster, the wait could, possibly, might soon be over. That’s because Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently posted on his social media network, X—formerly known as Twitter—that the second-generation electric sports car will finally make its world debut on October 1, 2026.
For those familiar with how Musk operates, promises made often aren’t promises kept. For instance, last November, he said the new Roadster would be revealed on April 1, 2026—coincidentally, April Fool’s Day. Naturally, many people were skeptical about that timeline because of the CEO’s penchant for missing deadlines. Plus, it was the latest among several reveal dates that had been missed. Don’t forget, the original Roadster concept was shown nearly a decade ago, with a zero-to-60-mph time of 1.9 seconds, a 620-mile range, a starting sticker price around $200,000, and a promised launch sometime in 2020.
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Four years later in 2024, Musk wrote on X that Tesla had radically “increased the design goals” and that "There will never be another car like this, if you could even call it a car." He then said the car would go on sale in 2025. We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that, at the time, Musk said the new Roadster would hit 60 mph in less than a second, and he also resurfaced old tweets that teased available rocket thrusters as part of a “SpaceX option package.” For those who wanted to stake their claim, refundable reservations were available for a smooth $50,000.
So, will October 1 be the day we finally see the new Tesla Roadster that customers can someday own? Indeed, there’s a live countdown on the company’s website. And if the Roadster is revealed next month, will it meet or exceed the many bold claims that Musk has made over the years? We have just over two weeks to find out. Hopefully.
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Eric Stafford’s automobile addiction began before he could walk, and it has fueled his passion to write news, reviews, and more for Car and Driver since 2016. His aspiration growing up was to become a millionaire with a Jay Leno–like car collection. Apparently, getting rich is harder than social-media influencers make it seem, so he avoided financial success entirely to become an automotive journalist and drive new cars for a living. After earning a journalism degree at Central Michigan University and working at a daily newspaper, the years of basically burning money on failed project cars and lemon-flavored jalopies finally paid off when Car and Driver hired him. His garage currently includes a 2010 Acura RDX, a manual '97 Chevy Camaro Z/28, and a '90 Honda CRX Si.