Tesla to unveil the next-gen Roadster on October 1st

The automaker has now confirmed that the Roadster will be unveiled on Thursday, October 10, 2026. This is now the official unveiling date.

Last month’s rumors of an August unveil proved wrong, as I predicted in my previous report. Roadster’s October 1st launch will give Tesla ample time to prepare, build hype, and let enthusiasts and media discuss it at length.

Tesla just didn’t announce the unveiling date. The automaker also shared a partially visible teaser photo of the next-gen Roadster’s rear fascia. This image shows four thrusters firing cold gas.

Interestingly, as little as this image reveals, one thing is obvious: the thrusters face backward, not downward. Looking closely at the teaser image above, the thrusters are installed where a Ferrari’s mid-engine is located.

I have increased the brightness of the Roadster teaser photo to remove shadows, but Tesla has obscured the design very smartly. It only reveals as much as Tesla wanted to reveal. Let’s try to decipher this teaser photo.

SpaceX Thrusters

These cold gas thrusters will give a Tesla Roadster short bursts of forward boost. This technology is borrowed from SpaceX rockets. Therefore, these are called SpaceX Thrusters, filled with cold gas.

When this super-chilled, pressurized gas is released from the cylinders toward the back of the car, the Roadster will get an instant push forward, an extra boost of acceleration.

In a 2020 Roadster update, Elon Musk said the SpaceX Rocket Thrusters would be offered as an optional upgrade. Tesla Roadster will have an already insane 0-60 mph time of less than 2 seconds without the thrusters.

If a customer wants to cut the 0-60 mph time by almost half, SpaceX Thrusters would be offered for an extra premium (learn the math behind this phenomenon).

It’s unclear how many boost bursts these cylinders could deliver. Refill and maintenance costs will significantly affect how many customers opt for the Tesla Roadster SpaceX Thrusters package.

A Flying Tesla Roadster (No)

Previously, headlines have been suggesting a ‘flying’ Tesla Roadster. However, that is not the case, even though he once said, “The new Tesla Roadster can fly.”

Musk promised that SpaceX rocket thrusters would deliver an insane 0-60 mph acceleration time of around 1 second. This was in 2020.

In the last 6 years, Tesla and SpaceX have advanced their respective technologies and vehicle engineering. With SpaceX thrusters, the 0-60 mph time can even be under 1 second.

While the new Tesla Roadster will deliver short bursts of power through specially designed SpaceX rocket thruster technology, that doesn’t mean it will become a flying car.

SpaceX thrusters will be mostly used for forward acceleration; at these speeds, the car can feel like it’s flying. Tesla can offer a function that rotates the thrusters downward when the car is in Park (stationary), levitating it for brief moments.

Even this will be interesting to watch and for owners to have. Owning a flying sports car is an out-of-this-world feeling.

Above: Next-gen Tesla Roadster first prototype in red (Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.).

Radical Design Changes

The following image shows the Tesla Roadster prototype that was revealed at the Tesla Semi unveiling event in 2017. This prototype has been on display in the Petersen Museum in California.

In 2024, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the next-gen Roadster will have “radical design changes.” It’s been more than two years since this statement, and Tesla hasn’t stopped working on the Roadster.

The first prototype that the world has seen for years now will go into history as the first Tesla concept car that didn’t make it to production. In the last 9 years since its unveiling, the design has already been outdated and will not excite potential buyers much.

The teaser image above suggests that the rear end of the next-gen Roadster has been completely redesigned. The old prototype didn’t have a light bar, but this one apparently does (they have been a Tesla thing since the Cybertruck, the Model Y Juniper, and now the Cybercab).

Elements from the latest Tesla design language and elements of its own flagship Tesla car, the Roadster, will not look very similar to the early prototype we’ve been used to seeing for slightly less than a decade. “It’s out of this world,” as Musk said.

=== 

Featured image: Teaser photo of the next-gen Tesla Roadster with firing SpaceX thrusters (Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.).

Note: This article was published earlier on Tesla Oracle. Author: Iqtidar Ali.