A few milestones are important. In November 2017, Tesla unveiled the second-generation Roadster with what was termed a “SpaceX Option Package” that envisioned adding around 10 small rocket thrusters around the car to dramatically improve acceleration and cornering. In 2025, Elon Musk dropped hints about a hover-capable prototype involving SpaceX technology, slated for a future reveal. Now, Tesla has given us a first glimpse of an electric car that can be driven upside down, one that briefly hovered, and can do 0-60km/h acceleration in 1 second.
Tesla Roadster pre-bookings are now live in India. The Performance package, defined as “road ready with a seating for two; includes active aero and a multi-mode suction system,” is priced at ₹45,05,000. A higher-spec Thrust variant, described as “race ready with seating for two; includes Performance active aero and a multi-mode suction system, plus acceleration thrusters,” is priced at ₹2,45,24,000.
The top-tier Rocket option which includes everything from Performance and Thrust plus a “full flight system,” is invite only at this time, and its pricing remains unknown. Tesla accepts payments via credit card or UPI. However, before committing to this preorder, it may be prudent to wait-and-watch for actual delivery estimates and regulatory approvals for the suction system as well as the full flight systems for Indian roads.
This may well be the next-generation of an otherwise elusive second-generation Roadster expected to go into production in 2028, and the entire thing which unfolded earlier today on a stream, felt something closer to a stunt spectacle than an actual product unveiling. It will be 9 years since the Roadster’s previous iteration, which since that moment in 2017, has never actually gone on sale. The first generation Roadster was on sale between 2008 and 2012.
Tesla says the Roadster’s design was inspired by the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird and the Lockheed Martin F-35 high-performance aircraft. There seem to be three key party tricks for the Roadster concept as it stands today. Upside-down driving capabilities, mid-air flips, and leaping over other cars. It is difficult to say how many of these features will be found road-legal in countries around the world, but nothing stops Elon Musk’s Tesla from dreaming and building.
The Roadster drove up a multi-story curved ramp that angled sharply gradually, and used immense downward suction to cling to the surface as it drove vertically upward. Once at the top of the ramp, it flipped over using cold-gas thrusters that gently brought it back to the ground. The Roadster demoed a fan-based suction system that has been built by SpaceX—this is mounted on the underside of the vehicle, and is capable of generating up to two Gs of suction force. The rear wing also has high drag and high downforce modes, something we see in racing cars too.
Later, the Roadster flew over its Tesla siblings, the Model 3, Model Y, Cybertruck, Semi, and Cybercab, using attitude-control thrusters and main thrusters mounted towards the rear of the car, for a rocket-like flying trajectory. “It can basically fly like a rocket,” Musk said, adding, “It can do, like, crazy gymnastics. Whatever you want.”
There is an understanding within Tesla that some of the showcases may not be safety-optimised and will not get the permissions for road-legality. But they’re happy having made something that Musk says is “11 out of 10 on the fun meter”. The thing that could make it to the production version is the immense acceleration capabilities, with one of the runs from 0-60 mph measured at 1 second. As for top speed, the Roadster is expected to touch 230 mph. “It’s going to crush every track record that’s ever existed,” he says.
An interesting point which many may have missed: Musk says that in the long term, the Roadster will be the only manually driven car that Tesla makes. That may well be clarifying a vision that the rest of Tesla’s portfolio of electric cars will become increasingly autonomous in the years ahead.