New Tesla Roadster

A former Tesla president says the endlessly delayed next-generation Roadster is being held up by SpaceX “hovering” technology — and that the project is really about pulling Tesla and SpaceX closer together.

Jon McNeill, Tesla’s president from 2015 to 2018 and now co-founder of VistaShares and CEO of DVx Ventures, made the comments as Tesla preps a long-promised Roadster demo nearly nine years after the car was first unveiled.

Tesla is planning to finally show its new Roadster as early as this month, and the event is supposed to include a stunt where the car lifts off the ground, according to a new report from The Information (paywall).

There’s a catch. The car will be operated remotely with nobody in it, and spectators will be kept several hundred yards back because the SpaceX-developed cold gas thrusters are loud enough to damage their eardrums.