Tesla’s new Roadster comes with a production date of 2028, and after nine years of missed targets, that date deserves a cautious reading. At the company’s October 15 event the car drove up a curved ramp on a suction rig until it was upside down, then descended on rocket thrusters. Reservations for the Thrust trim, which includes cold-gas thrusters, cost $250,000. Musk told the audience that production in 2028 is real this time, which suggests he knows how many earlier promises came before it.
The history explains the scepticism. The second-generation Roadster first appeared in November 2017, alongside the Tesla Semi, with deliveries promised for 2020. A few months later, Musk floated a SpaceX option package with around ten small rocket thrusters intended to improve acceleration, braking and cornering. Tesla began taking deposits ranging from $50,000 to $250,000. Then the timeline kept slipping.
In mid-2020, Musk said production was 12 to 18 months away. Early in 2021 the date moved to 2022, and by the end of that year to 2023. More delays were announced in 2023 and again in 2024, and Tesla prioritised the Cybertruck, which had its own long road to production. When Tesla recommitted to the Roadster this past April, the car had largely become a running joke. Some reservation holders complained publicly, including YouTuber Marques Brownlee, who said last year that Tesla had held his $50,000 for eight years, and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman.
During that period Tesla’s priorities also shifted. Musk’s high-profile role in the US government in 2025 led to protests and brand damage for Tesla, and the company has since moved resources toward robotaxis and humanoid robots. The specifications have changed too: Tesla now quotes over 300 miles of range, well short of the figure promised in 2017.
The Roadster still matters symbolically. The original, launched in 2008 on a Lotus Elise chassis and built in small numbers, showed that an electric car could be fast, desirable and capable of more than 240 miles on a charge. It was the project that first drew Musk to invest in Tesla in 2004, when the company’s co-founders were still running it. A successor that delivers on its promises would be a fitting return.
The stunts proved the engineering can work. They didn’t establish a delivery date, a final price or what owners will actually be allowed to do with thrusters on public roads. For people asked to put down six figures, those details matter more than the flip. If Tesla meets 2028, it will be the first Roadster deadline the company has kept.
