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The long-delayed second-generation Tesla Roadster could more outrageous than the concept shown way back in 2017.
Overnight Elon Musk made some proclamations about the new car in a series of tweets on the site formerly known as Twitter. The Tesla CEO started off by saying, “Tonight, we radically increased the design goals for the new Tesla Roadster”.
He promised “there will never be another car like this, if you could even call it a car”, and thought “it has a shot at being the most mind-blowing product demo of all time”.
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2017 Roadster concept shown throughtout
Despite the uprated goals for the car, Mr Musk also claimed the Roadster’s “production design complete” with an unveiling at the end of 2024, and the company “aiming” to ship the car in 2025.
Given the company’s long history of delays and missed deadlines, it’s unclear if the production Roadster will be revealed on time.
After the concept’s unveiling alongside the Semi, Tesla said the second-generation Roadster would enter production in 2020.
The Cybertruck concept was revealed in 2019 with manufacturing slated to begin in 2021, but it wasn’t until the end of 2023 that the stainless steel-bodied ute began trundling down the production line.
In response to an fan’s question, the outspoken CEO claimed the new Roadster will have a 0-60mph (0-97km/h) time of under one second. That’s significantly quicker than what the company claimed was possible when it unveiled the concept in 2017.
Back then it said the 0-60mph run could be done in 1.9s, 0-100mph (0-161/km/h) would require 4.0 seconds, and the quarter mile (400m) could be knocked off in 8.8 seconds.
Tesla also promised the Roadster would have a top speed in excess of 402km/h (250mph), and have a driving range of 998km (620 miles).
We don’t know if the Roadster’s changed designed parameters will mean that it will miss, meet or exceed the original range target.
It’s also unclear if the Roadster capable of the sub-1 second 0-60mph time will be a pure electric vehicle, or will be a hybrid of sorts.
In 2018, Mr Musk said on Twitter the new Roadster would have a SpaceX option package with “[roughly] 10 small rocket thrusters arranged seamlessly” around the car to “dramatically improve acceleration, top speed, braking [and] cornering”. He even postulated they “will even allow a Tesla to fly”.
Originally priced at US$250,000 ($385,000) for a limited run of 1000 Founder’s Series models, and US$200,000 ($308,000) for regular models, the price for the Roadster has since been removed from the company’s website, although it is still accepting reservations in the US at US$50,000 ($77,000) a pop.
Unlike the original Roadster, which was built on a modified Lotus Elise platform, the new model is being developed in-house by Tesla.
While the first-generation Roadster was a strict two seater, the concept for the second-generation car had a 2+2 layout. The Roadster concept’s removable glass roof panels makes the new car more of a targa than a traditional convertible.
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