Tesla is finally about to reveal the only human-driven car left in its lineup: the second-generation Tesla Roadster. Well, eventually.
I like to think of myself as a realist. I’m not a pessimist or a hater, though I’ve got emails from readers that say otherwise. I know it seems like I’m some ranging anti-Tesla advocate at this point, but I promise I don’t just randomly diss the carmaker out of nowhere. I only react to things I see. And unfortunately, Tesla does many things that I immediately dislike on sight. The whole “let’s celebrate a blind man using Full Self-Driving mode” will always blow my mind, and I’m often shocked the brand has so many fanboys after all of the dangerous lies.
But here’s the thing: being outspoken doesn’t mean hating. I’m willing to comment on the good Tesla does as well. I just never really saw anything good until today.
The Tesla Roadster could be cool… But I’m worried
Tesla is working on a bunch of stupid stuff that I have no interest in. There are its overpriced, overpromised robots that are still controlled by an off-camera person, and its lawsuit-waiting-to-happen Cybercab, which relies on Tesla’s super-faulty FSD but has no steering wheel or brake pedal if things go wrong. I don’t want anything to do with these things. I truly hope to never see a Cybercab on the road — and Tesla’s own leaders likely feel the same way.
But if you wipe away all these irritating ideas Tesla has, you are left with the second-generation Roadster. It will be the only human-driven car in Tesla’s lineup when it’s released. And I don’t know when that is because it’s been predictably delayed. It was initially available to pre-order in 2017, but it’s now been 10 years since Elon Musk made those promises. I’m sure some weirdos never asked for a refund. By October 2025, Musk said it would be revealed in April 2026. Well, that’s now. Wait, make that late April. No, let’s maybe skip April. On an earnings call, Musk said it will now be revealed “in a month or so.”
As Tesla moves toward a fully autonomous lineup (yikes), we are holding out hope for the second-generation Roadster. The delays had me a bit worried, I’ll admit. Tesla has clearly lost interest in its passenger vehicles, and the focus on weird stuff like the Cybercab leaves me wondering whether the Roadster will get the love it needs to be as cool as I want it to be. When its other models are built so shoddily and fall far short of what Musk promised, however, I’m not very confident. But Musk thinks this will be worth the wait.
“It requires a lot of testing and validation before we can actually have a demo and not have something go wrong with the demo, but I think it will be one of the most exciting product unveils ever,” Musk said.
I believe this long delay is due to a strange promise Musk made that takes away from what could have been an otherwise awesome electric sports car. Previously, Musk said that the next-generation Roadster will “literally fly” with the help of SpaceX technology. He originally hoped to have a prototype of the Roadster ready for April 1st, 2026 (womp) that would show off the ability to short-hop using cold gas thrusters. This is clearly another dramatic and random promise from Musk, like claiming the Cybertruck can be used as a boat. I’m not sure why anyone listens to him or why he’s allowed to say these stupid things. I just wish he’d cut the crap and just make a cool sports car.
If Musk can give up on this stupid hopping thing, there is hope that the Roadster will be awesome. Maybe I’m biased, but the first-generation Roadster was Tesla’s best vehicle. The rest were a letdown. The 2008 Roadster shattered previous public perception of EVs as slow and ugly. It adopted the Lotus Elise chassis, making it lightweight and stylish. It could hit 60 miles per hour in four seconds and had track-worthy handling.
Technology has advanced significantly since 2008, so the Roadster could be even more exciting. If Musk would stop with the stupid flying stuff and focus on handling, lightweight design, and speed again, the Roadster could almost be a supercar. Sort of like the Emira. Guess we’ll find out in a few months if Tesla is still capable of giving us, you know, a car.
