Last night, Elon Musk gave the people what they wanted: a car that climbs vertically up a multi-story ramp, launches off the edge, performs a mid-air “kickflip” over a row of Teslas, and lands using cold gas thrusters.
That’s what people want, right? “They promised us flying cars,” sure, but isn’t the key word in that statement “we”? Because as far as I can tell, everything we saw last night, while extremely interesting and incredibly impressive, will not result in a real, production-ready car that you can park or, I suppose, land in your driveway.
Tesla’s late-night demonstration in Waco, Texas certainly gave some corners of the Internet what it wanted. And the effusive praise and wide-eyed reactions on X, a platform already predisposed to absolving Musk of all his sins, were hard to avoid.
Taken simply as a gimmick, the demonstration was amazing. Equipping an electric supercar with 600 liters of compressed air, 10 directional cold gas propellant nozzles and a 2G suction fan system directly inspired by SpaceX is undoubtedly cool. Watching a launch from 0 to 60 mph in less than a second pushes the absolute limits of physics, even if it might cause a retinal detachment or two.
However, calling this a “car reveal” or even viewing the Flying Roadster as a real product, in the sense that it can be purchased by an unaffiliated third party for private ownership, stretches the definition beyond recognition. Tesla says the Roadster’s “Rocket” configuration, the one we saw doing all the cool stuff, will be “by invitation only.” But even that strains credulity. That version of the Roadster eliminates the passenger seat to make room for ultra-high-pressure gasoline tanks and trades on-road practicality for brief bursts of propeller-powered levitation. But where you can take your flying Tesla remains a mystery, because the company admits it won’t be approved for “use on public roads.”
Taken simply as a gimmick, the demonstration was amazing.
Even for wealthy supercar buyers, the event offered almost nothing of substance. Tesla skipped basic business details like pricing or battery range specs. The Roadster’s range estimate was reduced from 600 miles to 300 miles. And Musk coincidentally extended the production window to 2028, more than a decade after early users made $50,000 deposits.
Musk himself has acknowledged that the Roadster is a “small” project that won’t shake things up financially compared to mass-market models like the Model Y. He also called it “the ultimate best driver’s car,” in a nod to his belief that autonomous driving will define Tesla’s future.
Some analysts are already theorizing that the Roadster’s relaunch is an attempt to set the stage for a rumored Tesla-SpaceX merger. Musk’s fans at X are practically begging for it, even though it will likely result in dilution of their own capital. But that’s just what’s at stake in Musk’s quest to consolidate control of his companies.
In a sense, the car had to fly to make the previous decade of missing deadlines worth it. Tesla has already been surpassed several times in the electric hypercar market. Even some of the Roadster’s most impressive tricks have already been performed. There are cars that can drive upside down, cars that can jump in the air, and cars that can accelerate very, very fast.
BYD’s Yangwang U9 Extreme uses four electric motors (one more than the Roadster) to produce an incredible 3,000 horsepower for a top speed of 308 mph in testing, beating Rimac’s Nevera record of 268 mph. And the McMurtry Spéirling single-seater holds the record for the fastest acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in 1.35 seconds. The Roadster could surpass it, but we will have to wait for independent tests to confirm this.
But no one puts on a show like Elon Musk. So if the goal is to score a PR win, dominate social media, and cement the Tesla brand as a pioneer in cutting-edge technology, then I’d say the Roadster demonstration was a success. Competitors like Rimac, Porsche and BYD will continue to market real, track-ready hypercars while Tesla spends a few more years refining its rocket-powered prototype.
It is completely useless as a viable product. But as a 30-minute engineering demonstration, it was truly a sight to behold.
