Tesla Unveils New Roadster: 0-60 mph in 0.81s and Flight Demo

Tesla held its next-gen Roadster launch demo on October 16, with the biggest surprise being the car using cold-gas thrusters to fly over an entire row of parked Teslas and hover down to a landing—footage quickly went viral on X. Musk reposted the official clip saying "flying cars are really coming." The company also announced 0–60 mph in 0.81 seconds, stressing "not a typo," and opened reservations for three trims, with delivery expected in 2028.

Confirmed

• The live demo included: launching off a ramp, hovering mid-air and landing gently (on-screen data showed 4697 kg downforce, 170-degree pitch angle, 67.4 feet height); a mid-air flip followed by a normal landing; driving upside down along a vertical track; and escaping a vertical wall via thrusters—all performed multiple times in one night
• Powertrain and chassis: SpaceX cold-gas thrusters enable jump-and-roll maneuvers; an underbody fan suction system generates up to 2g of downward force, letting the car stick to ceilings while stationary; 0–60 mph in 0.81 seconds, with top speed reportedly up to 0.5 Mach per an on-site account Musk reposted; body made of magnesium, titanium, and carbon fiber, with steer-by-wire; two seats (Rocket version is single-seat)
• Three versions open for reservation: Performance (two-seat road version with active aerodynamics and multi-mode ground-effect suction), Thrust (two-seat limited edition with enhanced thrusters), and Rocket (single-seat, invite-only); a tetsuoai post says delivery in 2028
• Musk said this will be a real, street-legal-capable car, but "not necessarily with safety as the top priority," and it may not be legal in some regions
• Industry reactions: Google CEO Pichai congratulated and joked about expecting an FSD version; DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis quipped "the Blade Runner car is coming"; multiple influencers predicted TSLA stock would "take off"

Unconfirmed

• Performance figures like the 0.81-second acceleration and 0.5 Mach top speed come from the event and on-site accounts; whether the production version can match them remains unverified; the "2028 delivery" timeline is a secondhand account from a post, with no official schedule in the available material

Why it matters

• If the demo is genuine, this would be the first production car to perform cold-gas thruster jumps and inverted driving, pushing "flying cars" from concept toward a road-going product
• After years of rumors, the Roadster finally lands as a three-tier product line; its thruster and suction technologies come from SpaceX and could spill over into other Tesla models
• Musk's remarks that safety is "not necessarily the top priority" and the car "may not be legal in some regions" signal that regulation and compliance will be key variables for getting it on the road

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2 near-duplicate retellings: xiaohu · Ghost_Pilot_MD