On the Dash:
- Tesla has reopened Roadster reservations with a $50,000 deposit ahead of the Oct. 1 reveal.
- The new Roadster will arrive with significant expectations after the original model missed its promised 2020 production target.
- Tesla says the Oct. 1 event will provide pricing, specifications and production targets for the redesigned sports car.
Tesla has reopened reservations for its next-generation Roadster, noting that buyers must pay $5,000 upfront by credit card, then wire an additional $45,000 within 10 days. Tesla calls the initial $5,000 payment fully refundable, but the reservation doesn’t become final until the wire transfer clears.
The EV maker will officially unveil the Roadster on Oct. 1 near Waco, Texas. The company first opened $50,000 reservations for the car in November 2017 and promised production by 2020, but nearly nine years later, those original reservation holders still haven’t received their vehicles. Tesla also offered a $250,000 Founders Series reservation, which requires buyers to pay the full amount upfront.
However, Tesla faces renewed scrutiny over the car’s history of repeated delays. Nearly nine years after the first reservations opened, customer production still hasn’t begun, and some reservation holders have reported difficulty getting deposits back after canceling, including YouTuber Marques Brownlee and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, both of whom went public with refund struggles this year.
On Oct. 1, Tesla plans to reveal pricing, specifications and production targets for the Roadster. Musk has teased a demonstration featuring SpaceX-designed cold gas thrusters, and reports indicate Tesla will operate the demonstration vehicle remotely and won’t make it street legal.
Tesla announced the 2017 Roadster with ambitious specs:
- 620-mile range
- 0-60 mph time under 1.9 seconds
- A top speed above 250 mph
- Starting at $200,000.
Recent teasers suggest a redesigned model with Tesla’s angular, Cybertruck-inspired styling and a full-width light bar.
The Oct. 1 reveal should clarify pricing, specs and production plans. If the EV maker moves successfully from demonstration to production, the Roadster would add another high-performance vehicle to its lineup. Given the car’s history of delays, the production timeline matters not just for Tesla but for the broader retail automotive market as well.
