Tesla plans to hold a demonstration of its new Roadster prototype early this month, and the presentation may include lifting the car off the ground using cold-gas thrusters developed by SpaceX, according to a report published by The Information and relayed by Electrek. However, no one will drive the car during the test; it will be operated remotely, while spectators will be kept hundreds of yards away because of the noise the thrusters could produce and the potential damage to their eardrums.
The demonstration is scheduled to take place at SpaceX’s rocket testing site in McGregor, Texas. The Information cited three people familiar with the plans for these details. It was not clear whether Tesla would livestream the test or later publish edited footage of it.
A Less Ambitious Demonstration Than the Original Plan
Tesla had delayed the car’s demonstration until August while it was still working on the thruster package internally codenamed A71. According to the report, the plan a few months earlier had been far more spectacular, involving driving the car up a magnetized ramp resembling a roller coaster, then traveling upside down, correcting its orientation, and hovering above the ground.
After that concept was presented to Elon Musk, it was postponed and some of its elements were scaled back. Musk told employees in recent weeks that carrying out the demonstration would be difficult and could fail, but that it would be fun regardless, according to a person cited by the newspaper.
The concept of “flight” itself was also scaled back during the program’s development. The newspaper cited a person familiar with the project as saying that the team began with an idea closer to building an aircraft and ended with a vehicle more akin to low-altitude hovering.
Choosing a Structure Designed for a Supercar
The report also reveals details about the Roadster’s development process. In 2022, two teams inside Tesla’s design studio worked on two different concepts: the first relied on the structure and components of the Model S Plaid, with an elongated design based on the prototype shown in 2017, while the second started with an extremely lightweight carbon-fiber chassis, similar to those used in supercars and racing cars.
Musk chose the carbon-fiber-chassis design and asked the team, according to one person familiar with his comments, to build the car properly or not build it at all. This led to abandoning the reuse of the structures of Tesla’s existing vehicles and moving toward the development of a supercar that required engineering expertise the company did not have, prompting it to hire engineers from Italy, including Stefan Nothdurfter, the former head of body engineering at Lamborghini, who later left Tesla.
The design went through a phase inspired by the Lamborghini Countach before Franz von Holzhausen directed the team toward an appearance evoking the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft, explaining the A-71 codename. By 2025, the shape had settled into a more conservative design, and Tesla built an operational two-seat prototype with upward-opening doors.
A Limited Version Unsuitable for Public Use
The version expected to be showcased in Texas will not be street-legal, and its price could range from hundreds of thousands of dollars to perhaps millions of dollars. Tesla discussed internally selling it to a limited number of enthusiasts through a program resembling Ferrari’s XX program, in which track-focused cars are used under supervision.
The company also considered at one point converting the car to a single-seat configuration, with a cold-gas thruster placed where the passenger seat would be. According to the report, a person might not be able to drive the car while the thrusters were operating because of the noise level.
Meanwhile, customers who reserved the original Roadster are still waiting. In 2017, Tesla took reservations of $50,000 for the standard version and $250,000 for the Founders Series version, while the company changed the project’s delivery date or specifications at least eight times, according to the article. Marques Brownlee and Sam Altman both announced that they had canceled their reservations, while Tesla indicated in May that progress was limited through the registration of new trademarks related to Roadster.