I was on X (unfortunately) this afternoon and saw a tweet that’s not shocking at all, but still must be said. Tesla is delaying the second generation Roadster reveal. Again.
The official account stated: “We’ve been tracking the weather closely with local meteorologists, but given the severe conditions predicted and because this event can only be held outdoors, we’ve made the difficult decision to reschedule.”
The original reveal was going to be October 1st. Now, it will be October 15th. Honestly, it’s not the biggest delay. I mean, Tesla has delayed things for a decade (multiple times). But it’s still hilarious to hear of yet another delay after the Roadster’s long, delay-filled history.
Tesla first took pre-orders for the second generation Roadster 10 years ago. Back in 2017, Tesla fans could put down $50,000 for a Roadster despite not knowing the price, the specs, the design, or if it would ever exist.
Despite taking fans’ money, Tesla had no real updates on the Roadster until 2025. At that point, Elon Musk reassured those guys that the long-awaited electric sports car would be coming in April 2026.
That didn’t happen.
Silence.
In May, Tesla finally had news. The news? There would be news on October 1st.
Now, October 15th.
So far, we know basically nothing about the Roadster. Well, nothing concrete. We know Musk claims a lot of silly things, like that it will fly with SpaceX technology and will have four motors and be the quickest car ever and never cheat, do all the dishes without a reminder, and give you $25,000 a month! You can choose which of these things you think Musk actually said. It doesn’t really matter until we see the Roadster do a little hop on October 15th.
Has Tesla ever delivered anything on time?
I think it’d be safe to bet “no” or “rarely.”
The Roadster is now reaching 10 years of claims, delays, and promises. If there’s even a car on October 15th, I’ll be shocked. If it flies, I’ll give every reader $10**, a buck for every year those dopes were waiting.
But the Roadster isn’t alone. The Semi, its electric semi-truck, was recently launched as well. That was also mentioned back in 2017. At the time, Musk claimed that the Semi would be ready and on the road by 2019, just two years. And it would have a 500 mile range, something that wasn’t even possible back then.
Spoiler: It didn’t get released. In the 2020s, Tesla gave a few Semis out to some prominent companies to try out. To be fair, they put millions of miles on those things. But yeah, it wasn’t released. Not even close.
Then, in September 2026, a company selected Tesla as its main supplier of electric semi-trucks, requesting about 2,500 total trucks. Tesla has finally started shipping out some Semis to other companies, but it’s nowhere even close to the 50,000 it claims it can produce every year. By the end of 2026, it’s expected that a few thousand will be on the road.
I’m not done. The Cybertruck had a similar story. It was first announced in 2019, and Musk made some big claims about it floating like a boat, driving 500 miles, and being bulletproof and an all-around le epic off-roader. Production was planned for 2020. Nope.
Multiple delays pushed this to 2022, then 2023. By the end of 2023, the hideous vehicle was let loose onto the highways of America, but it cannot float, doesn’t have a 500 mile range, and is horrible at off-roading.
The Cybercab was (yes, I’m still going) announced at an over-the-top and performative event in 2024. At that event, the Optimus robots were being controlled by humans from afar and the Cybercab barely did anything. Still, the fanboys ate it up!
Musk was busy over the next year mocking Waymo and claiming it had “rookie numbers.” Meanwhile, a small handful of Tesla Model Y were being used in its flimsy and flawed robotaxi service in Austin. Those had to be supervised constantly by a human.
It feels like every few months, we are promised some massive fleet of Cybercabs, but they are barely functioning anywhere. Which is good, because they have no steering wheel and no pedals despite relying on Tesla’s Full Self-Driving mode, which is meant to be supervised. That sounds safe…
I feel like I see a new “Cybercab spotting” on X every few weeks from some desperate fan who keeps claiming it’s the best ride they ever had in their entire life. But is Tesla’s Cybercab anywhere near the production levels it keeps promising? No.
Even the Tesla Model Y, the most reliable and boring of the Tesla vehicles, has been delayed countless times. I’m too tired to even go into it. Let’s just say that we are, once again, not surprised about the Roadster delay.
**I won’t. Ask Musk for a refund.
