- Tesla reopened reservations for the Roadster, and they cost $50,000 a pop.
- The company plans to unveil the new supercar on October 1.
- Elon Musk has made bold promises about what the Roadster will be like.
The last time Elon Musk asked people for $50,000 deposits on the Tesla Roadster was in 2017. Those reservation holders were told they'd get their car in 2020. That did not happen. In fact, it still hasn't. Now, those same reservation holders must be getting déjà vu, because Tesla is once again asking for $50,000 deposits to get in line for a Roadster. Insert that Bernie Sanders meme here.
Tesla's reservation page went live last week, and the company is asking for a $5,000 initial payment due immediately, plus another $45,000 wired within 10 days. The initial $5,000 is fully refundable, though.
Thankfully for the people dropping fifty grand now, the production car actually has a reveal date. Tesla says we're going to see the Roadster (again) on October 1. So new reservation holders won't have to wait long to see what they've spent brand-new 3 Series money reserving. Both Marques Brownlee and Sam Altman were among the high-profile customers who plunked down the cash to reserve a Roadster after it was revealed nearly a decade ago. But they got tired of waiting and asked for refunds not too long ago.
Tesla first opened up reservations for the Roadster in November 2017, after the vehicle was unveiled as a "one more thing" surprise at an event showcasing the Tesla Semi truck. For a limited time, Tesla took $250,000 deposits for a special Founders Series. For several years, it allowed customers to plunk down $50,000 to snag a standard Roadster. Now that Tesla is unveiling the production Roadster within a couple of weeks, reservations are open once more.
No one knows what exactly the Roadster is going to be like when it's unveiled at SpaceX's Waco, Texas, rocket-testing facility next week.
The automaker originally promised a top speed of over 250 mph, a 0-60 time under two seconds, and 620-plus miles of range. Since then, Musk has claimed the sports car would be able to fly (thanks to SpaceX technology) and that it would hit 60 mph in an unfathomable 1 second. He's also since cast doubt on the value of having over 600 miles of range in an EV, due to the weight of the battery. Another potential change has to do with the design; the teaser image on Tesla's website indicates a "cyber" refresh that would make the Roadster look more like Tesla's modern lineup. (The Semi, too, got a facelift before actually going on sale.)
Tesla has reportedly cleared the airspace near the event, suggesting that we might see this rocket idea in action. The Information reported that Tesla will show off a street legal car, plus one that flies. Hopefully for Tesla, that goes better than throwing a steel ball at the Cybertruck did.
"It'll be a banger," Musk said recently about the upcoming demonstration on the All In Podcast. "Excitement guaranteed. Success is not guaranteed, but excitement is."
I know what I—and I'm sure the reservation holders new and old—will be looking out for: a production-ready model with a price and a release date, or at least a production timeline. After keeping reservation holders on the hook for close to a decade, it seems like that's the least Tesla could do.
