Here’s When Elon Musk Says to Expect a New Tesla Roadster

• Second-generation Tesla Roadster expected to be shown later in 2024, according to Elon Musk, with a 2025 production debut as a 2026 model-year car.

• The Roadster still promises a range of 620 miles, room for four, and some kind of optional rocket-assisted launch/handling system developed in collaboration with SpaceX, likely to be shown during the model's reveal later in 2024.

• The Roadster is expected to start at $200,000 in base form, according to Tesla's website, but this could change closer to its production debut.

It has been a long time, to put it mildly, since we first saw images of the next-gen Tesla Roadster.

So long, in fact, that in the meantime we have now seen a once-in-a-century pandemic, a major land war in Europe, and several new iPhones. We also now know what Pluto looks like up close. China held its second Olympic Games, and Christopher Nolan has released a time-travel film with a lot of expository dialogue that not many viewers actually understood, but one that possibly featured a Saab 9-5 driving backwards at 88 mph to go back through time.

For some further perspective, the second-generation Tesla Roadster was first shown in November 2017 when the new Model 3 was still in "production hell," moving in fits and starts, having begun months prior.

Tesla's Model Y would not enter production for another two years and two months, promising three rows of seats (at least on paper), and the reveal of the Cybertruck, complete with an awkward window breaking ceremony, was still two years away.

The one thing that hasn't changed since 2017 is that we are still in the grips of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Industrial Complex. Also, your smartphone is now marginally larger and faster.

At the time of the concept's debut, Elon Musk floated a starting price of $200,000, indicating that delivery would start by the year 2020. The automaker proceeded to accept $50,000 deposits for the yet-unbuilt model. Later on, Musk said the second-gen Roadster would have rocket-assisted handling—a system that was deemed possible by engineering experts, albeit at the cost of some weight along with some other asterisks.

Relatively little was said about the second-gen Roadster after 2020, as Tesla chased Model 3 and Model Y volume, while also temporarily shelving its $25,000 car project. In fact, the Roadster was not even mentioned at all in the third part of Tesla's Master Plan, leading some industry observers to wonder if it had been canceled.

After all, a vehicle with a $200,000 starting price would realistically see only so many orders, while also necessitating something close to assembly by hand, for which Tesla was already criticized during the rampup of the Model 3.

Now, in early 2024, the Roadster appears to be on track, at least according to Musk, with a production debut slated for later this year. And it is still promised with a rocket-assisted system of some sort, courtesy of SpaceX.

"Tonight, we radically increased the design goals for the new Tesla Roadster," Musk tweeted on February 28, 2024.

"There will never be another car like this, if you could even call it a car."