The Tesla Roadster Flew. Now Comes the Hard Part: Price, Legality and 2028

Tesla has finally shown its next-generation Roadster, nearly nine years after it was first revealed. At a SpaceX test site in McGregor, Texas, an unoccupied car drove upside down on a ramp, flipped in mid-air and hopped over other Teslas. Tesla now says it will build the car in 2028. It has not given a price.

TSN previewed the event and covered the night itself in our earlier report. This explainer separates what Tesla actually showed, what it says it will sell, and what is still only a claim, using Tesla’s own pages and posts, engineering interviews and the first statements from US regulators.

What actually happened at McGregor

The event was streamed from a SpaceX test site in McGregor, near Waco, starting at “7:55 p.m. local time, or 8:55 p.m. ET”, according to CNBC. That was 15 October in Texas and 01:55 UK time on Friday 16 October. Tesla on X had given the start as “7:55pm CST”. Wired describes the venue as “SpaceX’s rocket development testing facility”. It is not a Tesla factory.

Musk was joined by designer Franz von Holzhausen and vehicle engineering chief Lars Moravy, CNBC reports. The Verge says the event was “less than 30 minutes” long, with “no mention of price, release date, or other such mundane details” beyond Musk’s 2028.

According to TechCrunch, the car used fans and thrusters to drive up an inverted ramp, spin round and lower itself to the ground. Later it lifted itself over a Cybercab, Cybertruck, Semi, Model Y and Model 3 while moving. No one was inside. Musk said that was “to make sure we don’t kill anyone”, according to Wired, and Electrek notes: “For the demos, nobody was in the car.”

The event itself had slipped: Tesla tried to hold it on 1 October, TechCrunch reports, but rescheduled because of “the severe conditions predicted”.

The three Roadsters

Tesla says there will be three trims. In its “Configurations” post on X, it calls Performance “road ready, seats 2”, Thrust “race ready, seats 2” and Rocket “air ready, seats 1”, adding of Rocket: “So…yes, it can fly”. The same post lists “Range >300 miles” and “Top speed up to >230mph (Rocket)”.

The figures differ by source, so the table gives the source for each one. All of them are Tesla’s or its engineers’ claims. No independent tests exist.

At the event, Tesla ran a car from 0 to 60 mph and posted “0-60 mph in 0.81 seconds”. Electrek says that run came “after some technical difficulties with the timer”. It adds that the 0.55-second figure includes a “one foot rollout”, meaning the clock starts only once the car has moved a foot.

According to Hagerty, which interviewed Moravy, all three versions have “over a megawatt (1341 hp) and 1400NM (1033 lb-ft) from two motors driving the rear wheels alone”. The car is now a two-seater rather than the 2+2 shown in 2017. Electrek reports that Tesla has not given the battery size.

Range has shrunk. Reuters says “over 300 miles (480 km)” is “less than half of what Musk promised in 2017”. The Verge says the 2017 prototype promised “up to 620 miles”.

How the tricks work, according to Tesla

The first system is fan-based suction under the car, which The Verge says can generate “up to two Gs”. That kept the car on the inverted ramp.

The second is SpaceX’s cold-gas thrusters. “SpaceX has used thrusters to position spacecraft for decades. Making them work in a vehicle instead of a vacuum took all-new hardware & controls,” Tesla wrote. “Every usable void in the car is packed with Carbon Fiber Overwrapped Pressure Vessels (COPVs).” In another post it claimed: “Roadster’s thruster system generates 4–5x the force the tires can.”

Musk first floated the idea in 2018 (see the timeline below).

What fills the tanks is less clear. Moravy told Hagerty the Thrust trim uses “a 200-liter tank of compressed Nitrogen that sits behind the seats”. In a Top Gear walkaround, he said refilling it “currently takes between two and six hours” from an external high-pressure nitrogen supply, with Tesla hoping to cut that to “roughly 30 minutes”, according to AutoGuide. Electrek puts the current fill time at “six or seven hours”, with the same 30-minute goal.

That does not match some of the reveal coverage. The Verge reported that “the Roadster can even recharge its own tank”, and TechCrunch quoted Moravy as saying the tank “can be recharged”. Tesla has not explained the difference.

Can you drive it, or fly it?

Tesla’s own website says the Rocket is “Not approved for public road use”, and that its flight features are available “with the Rocket trim only, which is not available in all regions”. Musk was open about the problem on stage. “I’m not sure it’s necessarily legal in all jurisdictions,” he said, as quoted by Wired. Waco station KWTX reported the rest of the quote: “but like, there will be such a car that someone can own.”

The Federal Aviation Administration does not see it as its problem, at least for now. “The Tesla vehicle does not meet the FAA’s definition of an aircraft,” FAA spokesperson Rick Breitenfeldt said in a written statement to Wired.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration put it differently. “While the vehicle may appear to defy the laws of physics, the manufacturer must ensure that it does not defy applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and drivers must obey all local traffic laws. NHTSA will continue to monitor the situation and won’t hesitate to act to protect the driving public,” the agency told CBS News, as reported by The Local US.

Electrek points out that Tesla’s site “says nothing under the ‘Thrust’ trim entry” about road use, even though it has rear thrusters.

What it costs to get in line

There is still no price. The 2017 prototype was quoted at a $200,000 base price, and Reuters reports that “Musk and other executives did not specify any target prices” this time.

TSN read Tesla’s reservation page on 18 October. It lists “Due Today | $5,000 | Fully refundable” and “Due within 10 days | $45,000”. It says: “Reservations are not final until payment is received. Reservation subject to cancellation if payment is not completed within 10 days. Refunds for modifications will not be issued.” The page shows the Performance trim first, and $5,000 plus $45,000 matches the $50,000 Performance deposit reported by Reuters and TechCrunch. The “Fully refundable” line sits next to the $5,000 only.

Reuters and TechCrunch report a $250,000 deposit for Thrust. The Rocket is “Invite Only”. CNBC says reservations reopened “in recent weeks” in the US, Canada and China.

Nine years of Roadster dates

This is what was said, and what happened.

TechCrunch says Musk delayed the car “in 2020, 2021, 2023, and 2024”. “I really was excited for the car! And I understand delays,” OpenAI chief Sam Altman wrote. “But 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait.” CNBC reports he got his refund. Lawrence O’Connor of Other World Computing, who put down $250,000 for a Founder’s Edition in 2017, told CNBC that what he saw was “off the charts”.

What Musk has said since

Since the event, Musk has added more on X. These are his claims, not confirmed plans.

• “Even without rocket thrusters, Roadster will crush the best Formula 1 track times, because we are using suction and active control surfaces, both of which are banned by F1” (16 October, 19:15 UK time).
• “You will be able to ask the Roadster to perform any of the tricks shown autonomously, as it will be sentient.” He added that Tesla “will have a wild looping track (crazier even than Hot Wheels) at our Texas HQ” (17 October, 08:12).
• “Future fun Roadster demos will include flying over the Snake River or maybe Grand Canyon and landing on its wheels and exceeding half the speed of sound” (17 October, 18:18).

On stage, asked about top speed, Musk said: “Definitely much faster than that … I think you’ve got to crack halfway to the speed of sound,” according to Reuters.

Why Tesla did it now

Tesla calls the Roadster “the best of the last human-driven cars” in one post. CNBC reports Musk said it will be the last Tesla intended to be driven by a human, and it has no FSD. Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein wrote last month that Tesla “does not currently have a halo car … The Roadster will be Tesla’s new halo car”, according to Reuters.

Musk himself has played down the money. At the event he said he was “not sure it moves the needle massively from a revenue standpoint”, TechCrunch reports.

Markets noticed. “Tesla shares were up 5% in premarket trading on Friday,” Reuters reported. CNBC says the unveiling “added to speculation of a possible merger between Tesla and SpaceX”. Barclays analyst Dan Levy predicted in a note that such a deal could happen before the end of 2026. That is Levy’s forecast, not a plan either company has announced.

Tesla’s attention is now elsewhere. Reuters reports that Tesla stopped selling the Model S and X this year to make space for Optimus robot production. On 18 October Musk posted that “Optimus and Cybercab will be the vast majority of Tesla’s value”, which TSN covers separately.

Tesla will report third-quarter results “after market close on Wednesday, October 21, 2026”, with a live Q&A at “4:30 p.m. Central Time”, or 22:30 UK time, according to Tesla Investor Relations. “The margin and cash flow numbers will carry far more weight with investors than anything they saw at the reveal,” eToro analyst Josh Gilbert told Reuters.

What we still don’t know

• The price of any trim. Only deposits are known.
• Which 0–60 and top-speed figures are final for each trim.
• Whether the Thrust trim will be legal on public roads.
• Whether the thrusters use nitrogen from an external supply or a self-recharging tank, and whether the 30-minute refill target will be met.
• The battery size and final weight.
• Whether 2028 means the start of production or first deliveries, for which trim, and where the car will be built.
• What happens to the 2017 deposits and Founders Series reservations.
• Which regions will get the Rocket.
• Whether the 21 October results will say anything about Roadster spending, volumes or timing.

Sources

• Tesla: Roadster page (read 18 October 2026)
• Tesla: Roadster reservation page (read 18 October 2026)
• Tesla on X: Configurations
• Tesla on X: 0-60 mph in 0.81 seconds
• Tesla on X: COPVs
• Tesla on X: thruster force
• Tesla on X: event rescheduled
• Elon Musk on X: Formula 1 claim
• Elon Musk on X: “sentient” claim
• Elon Musk on X: Snake River claim
• Elon Musk on X: 28 February 2024, “0-60mph < 1 sec”
• Tesla Investor Relations: Q3 2026 production, deliveries and deployments
• Wired: A Tesla Flying Car? I Don’t Know, Man
• The Local US (CBS News): Who would oversee a flying car? We asked the DOT
• Hagerty: The Flying Tesla Roadster Explained by the Man Who Engineered It
• AutoGuide: The Reality Behind Tesla’s Roadster Thruster System
• Electrek: Are Tesla’s claims for its new ‘flying’ Roadster real?
• TechCrunch: Tesla reveals SpaceX-powered Roadster that flies and falls with style
• The Verge: The Tesla Roadster flew, drove upside down, and hit 60mph in under a second
• Reuters (via Yahoo Finance): Tesla’s new Roadster turns in air with SpaceX thrusters, won’t land until 2028
• CNBC: Tesla Roadster reveal: what to know about the delayed EV
• KWTX: Elon Musk unveils new flying Tesla Roadster in McGregor

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