Tesla is accepting reservations for its redesigned second-generation Roadster, requiring a $50,000 deposit for the base model and $250,000 for a limited Founder's Series edition, according to the company's website.
The two-door coupe, first promised in 2017, pairs a three-motor electric drivetrain with cold gas thrusters developed by SpaceX, the rocket company also led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Musk has described the car as the best of the company's last-generation engineering and has claimed a zero-to-60 mph time under two seconds, a figure no production car has achieved.
The thrusters, mounted behind the license plate area, use compressed air rather than rocket propellant. Tesla has said they are designed to improve acceleration, braking and cornering rather than to lift the car off the ground, tempering earlier speculation that the Roadster could hover.
The reservation fees are not deposits toward the purchase price and are fully refundable, according to Tesla's reservation terms. The $250,000 Founder's Series payment is the highest upfront charge Tesla has ever asked for a vehicle, exceeding the $5,000 it collected for Cybertruck reservations in 2019.
Tesla has not announced a final price, production date or delivery timeline for the Roadster. When Musk unveiled the concept in November 2017, he said production would begin in 2020 at a base price of $200,000, a deadline the company has repeatedly missed.
The Roadster is arriving into a slowing electric vehicle market. Global EV sales growth decelerated in 2024 as automakers including Ford, General Motors and Mercedes-Benz scaled back production targets and delayed factory plans. Tesla itself reported its first annual delivery decline in 2024, delivering 1.79 million vehicles, down from 1.81 million in 2023.
Musk has leaned on the Roadster and the Cybercab robotaxi as future products while Tesla's core lineup ages. The Model S, the company's flagship sedan, has not been redesigned since 2021. Tesla shares fell 15% in the first quarter of 2025 after the company reported a 13% drop in quarterly deliveries.
Rival high-performance electric sports cars have filled the gap the Roadster left open. Rimac's Nevera, priced at roughly $2.2 million, holds the production car acceleration record at 1.74 seconds to 60 mph, verified in 2023. Lucid's Air Sapphire reaches 60 mph in 1.89 seconds at a base price near $250,000.
Tesla has not said how many Roadsters it intends to build or where the car will be assembled. The company's Fremont, California factory and its Austin, Texas plant are the likely candidates, though Tesla has not confirmed either location.
