When you think of a Tesla, I’m willing to bet a Model 3, a Model Y or maybe even a Cybertruck comes to mind. You’d be forgiven if you’ve forgotten about the Roadster.
The Tesla Roadster was the first car from Elon Musk’s company, produced between 2008 and 2012. It’s been a long time since then, and almost as long since Tesla first showed off the next-gen Roadster at a launch event in 2017. It was an impressive unveiling: CNET’s Tim Stevens wrote that the car “blew our minds.” But almost a decade later, those who preordered the sporty electric car are still waiting for it to arrive.
Now we have a new promise from Musk about when the Roadster 2 will — may? — actually arrive.
This was the original Tesla Roadster. It looks a lot different from the next-gen version unveiled in 2017. Who knows how it’ll compare with the version we might see in April 2026.
Musk shared an update about the Roadster at the 2025 Tesla Shareholders Meeting last week. (Yeah, that was the same meeting where shareholders approved a potential trillion-dollar pay package for Musk.)
According to Musk, we’ll get to see the new-look, next-gen Tesla Roadster at an event on April 1, 2026. That’s right: April Fools’ Day. But Musk says he’s serious.
“The product unveil of the Roadster 2, which will be very different than what we’ve shown previously, that demo event will be April 1 of next year,” Musk said, then waffled: “I have some deniability because I can say I was just kidding.”
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He then waffled some more. “But we are actually tentatively aiming for April 1, for what I think will be the most exciting, whether it works or not, demo of any product. And then I guess production is probably about 12-18 months after that. I think production is about a year or so after that.”
That may be exciting for customers who put down a deposit many years ago. But many Tesla owners, myself included, might struggle to believe it. After all, just last week, Musk said on the Joe Rogan Experience that a demo would happen by the end of this year.
Tesla Roadster 2 timeline
This latest timeline stretches out an already lengthy series of delays. After the original reveal in 2017, the new Roadster was supposed to arrive in 2020. Preorders opened (and are still open) and customers paid deposits for the electric sports car. That deadline slipped repeatedly, to 2021, then 2022, and more or less every subsequent year.
Based on what Musk said Thursday, here’s the timeline ahead of us: Unveiling next year, fingers crossed. Actual car you can buy, maybe 2027 or 2028?
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What to make of Musk’s thoughts on the upcoming demo (“whether it works or not”) and the vehicle itself (“very different than what we’ve shown previously”)? They raise two questions for me:
- Is it still a car?
- Should Founders’ Series reservation holders, who shelled out $250,000 back in 2017, be worried?
The Roadster has always been positioned as Tesla’s halo vehicle: an all-electric, high-performance machine designed to showcase the brand’s engineering prowess. But at this point its role has become less clear.
There are the loosey-goosey promises that the car has a “shot” at flying, could gain rocket boosters as part of a SpaceX option package, and will include crazier technology than James Bond cars. There’s the ambiguity over Tesla’s patent for a “fan car” system intended to enhance grip through aerodynamic innovation. Whatever it adds up to, its purpose — and whether it will actually be road legal — remains a mystery.
We’re almost a decade on from the next-gen Tesla Roadster’s unveiling, and a lot is still uncertain.
As a Tesla Model Y owner, I remain impressed by the company’s ability to deliver software-driven, forward-thinking vehicles. I even think that, despite the Roadster’s issues, the Tesla brand and Musk as CEO are performing well in the EV market. Still, it’s hard not to be cautious with the Roadster. After so many delays and so few details, expectations must be balanced by realism.
If the final product lives up to the hype — and I hope it does — it could reaffirm Tesla’s position at the forefront of automotive innovation. But first, it needs to exist.
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