Tesla has pushed the planned public demo of its next-generation Roadster to August or later, according to a report from The Information citing four people with knowledge of the program. It marks yet another delay for the vehicle first unveiled as a prototype nearly nine years ago.
The demo, expected to take place in Texas, is meant to showcase the SpaceX cold gas thruster system that Tesla claims will allow the Roadster to achieve extreme acceleration and even lift off the ground.
The latest in a never-ending string of delays
As we’ve been tracking exhaustively over the past nine years, the Roadster timeline has become a case study in broken promises. CEO Elon Musk said in October 2025 that the company aimed to unveil the new Roadster on April 1, 2026. That date came and went. He then said on X that the event had been pushed to late May or early June. Now, according to The Information’s sources, it’s August or later.
This is the Roadster’s first vehicle event since the Cybercab unveiling in October 2024 — nearly two years ago — and Tesla still can’t nail down a date.
The prototype was first shown in November 2017 with a promised 2020 production start. Since then, Musk has pushed the timeline at least eight times. At Tesla’s November 2025 shareholder meeting, he set a demo date of April 1, 2026 — April Fools’ Day — and openly said the date gave him “deniability.” Production was pushed to 2027-2028. In March 2026, he shifted the language from “demo” to “unveil” and moved the date to late April. Then during the Q1 2026 earnings call, he said “maybe in a month or so”. Now it’s August.
SpaceX thruster system is the centerpiece
The report reveals new details about the demo’s purpose. The event is meant to showcase Tesla’s collaboration with SpaceX on a cold gas thruster system for the Roadster, internally known as “A71.” The system aims to dramatically increase the vehicle’s acceleration and, as Musk has long claimed, allow it to briefly lift off the ground.
Tesla and SpaceX employees presented Musk with an early demonstration of the A71 system in late April, according to two of The Information’s sources. The fact that Tesla was still doing internal demos in late April helps explain why the public event kept slipping.
Tesla plans to produce a limited-edition SpaceX version of the Roadster featuring the thruster system, in addition to a “scaled down” version of the vehicle, the report says. Musk has talked about the SpaceX package since 2018, describing it as roughly 10 cold-air rocket thrusters that would replace the rear seats and enhance cornering, braking, and acceleration. He has claimed a 0-60 mph time of 1.1 seconds and has even said the car will be able to hover off the ground.
Whether any of this materializes in a production vehicle remains an open question after eight years of promises.
$50,000 reservation holders still waiting
Some early reservation holders paid $50,000 to secure a place in line for the Roadster starting in 2017. Founders Series buyers committed $250,000. Nearly a decade later, none of them have seen a production vehicle.
The frustration boiled over publicly when OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tried to cancel his Roadster reservation in October 2025 only to find the reservation email address had been shut down. Meanwhile, competitors like Rimac, Lotus, and Xiaomi have all shipped high-performance electric vehicles while Tesla’s Roadster remained a perpetual concept.
Tesla did not respond to The Information’s request for comment.
Electrek’s Take
At this point, it’s difficult to muster any reaction other than exhaustion. We’ve written about the Roadster’s imminent arrival so many times that we’ve lost count — and each time, the goalposts move again. Two months ago, the demo was supposed to happen in late May or early June. Now it’s August. By August, it could easily be November.
The new details about the SpaceX thruster system are the most interesting part of this report. An internal code name (“A71”), a late-April demonstration for Musk, and plans for both a SpaceX edition and a “scaled down” version suggest there is real engineering work happening. But real engineering work and a shipping product are very different things, and Tesla has been doing “real engineering work” on this car since 2017.
If the reason this supposedly halo car was delayed for almost a decade is really that Musk wanted limited-edition SpaceX Roadster with cold gas thrusters, it’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. A car that can briefly hover would generate media attention and create a spectacle, but it would do nothing to advance electric vehicles.
If you’re an EV owner, home solar could save you thousands over its lifetime. With electricity rates climbing nearly 10% last year, home solar protects you against future rate increases. And with lease and PPA options, you can go solar with zero upfront cost and start saving immediately. If you want to find the best deal, check out EnergySage. It’s a free service with hundreds of pre-vetted installers competing for your business, so you save 20 to 30% compared to going it alone. No sales calls until you pick an installer. Get your free quotes here.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments