A Roadster that wants to fly: Tesla pushes the SpaceX-thruster spectacle to August

© Elon Musk / x.com/elonmusk

Tesla is once again pushing back its Roadster timeline. According to The Information, the supercar's public demonstration is now expected in August or later, even though the talk just recently was about late May or early June.

For this car, delays have long since become part of its biography. The prototype of the new Roadster was shown back in November 2017, and production was promised for 2020. The timeline has shifted many times since. In October 2025, Elon Musk pointed to a demo on April 1, 2026; then the date moved to late May or early June, and now it's August at the earliest. Production, by the latest signals, has been pushed to 2027–2028.

The main draw isn't simply the electric powertrain. Tesla is preparing a Roadster version with a SpaceX cold-gas thruster system, internally known as A71. That is what's meant to be shown at the public event in Texas. According to Musk, the system will enable extreme acceleration, and in the top-spec variant the car will even be able to briefly lift off the ground.

The idea of the SpaceX package has been on the table since 2018. The talk back then was of roughly ten rocket thrusters that would replace the rear seats and assist with acceleration, braking and cornering. Musk claimed a 0–97 km/h time of 1.1 seconds — almost the blink of an eye. But between a flashy demo and a production car lies a long road.

Sources say Tesla and SpaceX employees showed Musk an early version of the A71 system in late April. That explains why the public reveal didn't happen in spring: if the internal prototype was still being fine-tuned in April, there was barely time to stage a May event. Tesla is reportedly planning not only the limited-edition SpaceX version but also a more straightforward Roadster variant.

The most painful part of the story is the early customers' money. Since 2017, some buyers have put down a $50,000 deposit to reserve a spot in the queue. Founders Series customers paid $250,000. Nearly nine years later, they still don't have a production car.

Tesla didn't respond to a request for comment. Meanwhile competitors haven't been idle: Rimac, Lotus and Xiaomi have already brought fast electric cars to market, while the Roadster remains Tesla's loudest promise. If the August demo does happen, it will reveal more than the thrusters — it will also show whether the Roadster still has any magic left after so many delays.