Tesla shares rose 5% in premarket trading on Friday after Elon Musk’s electric vehicle maker unveiled a redesigned Roadster featuring built-in thrusters designed to enable short flights, nearly a decade after the company began accepting deposits for the electric sports car.
The white two-seater, developed in collaboration with Musk’s rocket company SpaceX, was showcased at an event on Thursday.
The vehicle drove upside down on a ramp using a suction system, turned in the air and landed using its thrusters.
It later used the technology to jump over a truck and other vehicles, twisting in the air during the manoeuvre.
According to Tesla’s timer, the Roadster can accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in less than a second, and reach a top speed of 230 mph, a feat demonstrated by Tesla vehicle engineering chief Lars Moravy during the event.
The reveal gave Tesla a high-profile technology showcase after years of delays.
However, the vehicle is expected to be a high-end, low-volume model, with analysts questioning how much it will contribute to the company’s finances as Tesla increasingly prioritises self-driving technology and robotics.
Roadster production targeted for 2028
Tesla first unveiled the revamped Roadster in 2017 and began taking deposits that year, initially targeting deliveries in 2020.
The company has since missed multiple deadlines.
Musk now said production of the next-generation Roadster would begin in 2028, although Tesla did not announce a price or disclose specifications for other performance variants.
The company reopened reservations for the refreshed vehicle in recent weeks, accepting $50,000 deposits from prospective buyers in the US, Canada and China.
“Production is targeted for 2028, compared with the original 2020 delivery target announced when the vehicle was first unveiled in 2017,” JPMorgan analyst Rajat Gupta said, according to media reports.
Gupta rates Tesla stock neutral.
Musk acknowledged that the vehicle would come with compromises, describing it as “not necessarily a safety-optimised car”, while insisting it would “be an actual car that’s on the roads”.
“I’m not sure it’s necessarily legal in all jurisdictions,” he said. “But there will be such a car that someone can own.”
The Roadster’s flight capabilities and SpaceX technology could make it a distinctive offering in the luxury electric vehicle market.
It will compete with ultra-luxury models, including Ferrari’s €550,000 Luce, as well as forthcoming offerings from Bentley, Jaguar and Porsche.
Analysts see limited financial contribution
Despite the attention surrounding the launch, analysts expect the Roadster to contribute little to Tesla’s earnings, given its anticipated low production volumes and premium positioning.
Musk himself has previously played down the car’s financial significance, describing it in 2023 as a “small potato situation” that would not “move the needle in a major way financially”.
Gene Munster, managing partner at Tesla investor Deepwater Asset Management, described the event as a technology demonstration rather than a commercially significant launch.
“It was an engineering flex with no commercial value beyond embarrassing traditional car makers,” Munster said on X.
Gary Black, managing partner at The Future Fund, estimated that the Roadster could have a modest effect on Tesla’s earnings if production reaches 3,000 units annually.
Expert View
While amazing from an engineering and technology standpoint, we estimate the 2029 financial impact assuming 3,000 deliveries per year and a $100K unit profit per car will be roughly $.06/share, or 1.1% incremental to 2029 consensus adj eps of $5.40.
Gary Black
He added that the bigger benefit could come from the technology’s impact on Tesla’s brand.
“More important is likely to be the halo effect on the Tesla franchise and brand impact created by the prototype’s flight capabilities, acceleration and handling, which could add far more incremental value from a franchise standpoint,” he said.
However, Black remains cautious about Tesla’s valuation and future earnings prospects.
“We remain cautious on $TSLA given its extreme valuation (2026 P/E of 230x vs +45% long-term esp growth), negative 2027-2030 earnings revisions, and our view that unsupervised autonomy, the stock’s main value driver, will become increasingly commoditized over the next few years as full self-driving becomes table stakes for remaining in the automobile business,” he said.
Tesla shares remain down about 17% year to date, despite Friday’s premarket gains.
Tim Levin, a senior editor at InsideEVs, said the Roadster could help revive Tesla’s image as an innovator, particularly as its best-selling Model Y first went on sale in 2020.
However, he cautioned that the market had changed considerably since Tesla first announced the sports car.
“Maybe back then the world needed convincing that EVs could be these superfast accelerating vehicles,” Levin said.
“But maybe now it won’t have the same impact as it would have had in 2020.”
SpaceX partnership adds to speculation
The Roadster’s collaboration with SpaceX has also added to speculation about a possible combination of the two companies controlled by Musk.
Some observers see the partnership as a way to build interest in a long-talked-about potential merger, an idea Musk has explored by discussing areas of overlap between the businesses, Reuters reported.
“The Roadster event is the latest example of why Elon can’t wait to bring (Tesla) and (SpaceX) together,” he added.
The demonstration highlighted the engineering capabilities of the two companies, although a merger remains speculative.
Earnings and autonomy remain the bigger focus
The Roadster reveal comes as Tesla shifts its priorities from conventional vehicle manufacturing towards artificial intelligence, autonomous driving and robotics.
The company has stopped selling its Model S and Model X vehicles to make room for production of its Optimus humanoid robots.
It has also launched Cybercab, a two-seat robotaxi without conventional manual controls such as a steering wheel, pedals and mirrors.
Tesla is scheduled to report its third-quarter results on October 21.
Investors will be watching margins, cash flow and vehicle demand as the company navigates a challenging electric vehicle market.
Tesla deliveries fell 2% in the third quarter, affected by weaker US demand after President Donald Trump ended a $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicle purchases.
High petrol prices nevertheless helped support deliveries during the period.
Expert View
The margin and cash flow numbers will carry far more weight with investors than anything they saw at the reveal.
Josh Gilbert
The Roadster may reinforce Tesla’s technological ambitions, but its longer-term significance will depend on whether the company can translate its innovations into stronger financial performance and a sustainable competitive advantage in autonomous driving.
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