The Tesla Roadster’s October reveal looks like another piece of pantomime — it’s a shame the once ground-breaking company doesn’t focus on cars anymore

The new Tesla Roadster has been nine years in the making Some customers placed reservations for the vehicle back in 2017 Rumors suggest the EV could use gas thrusters to aid acceleration After years of delays and multiple shuffled goalposts, it looks like the next-generation Tesla Roadster will finally make its first public outing.

The official Tesla website posted a teaser image over the weekend that shows what appears to be a taillight, a large spoiler or rear diffuser and some sort of quad-thruster deployment spraying gas into the atmosphere.

There’s also a countdown clock, with the official Tesla account on X stating “Go for launch,” accompanied by the date 10.01, or October 1.

It is all typically cryptic, but some news outlets have flipped the image and said it looks more like an enormous rear spoiler with a light at the rear and thrusters beneath that, which would tally with Elon Musk’s claims that the sports car could use SpaceX-developed cold-gas thrusters as performance-enhancers.

Not a Tesla App is reporting that some key Tesla people, including online influencers, have started receiving their digital invitations, which suggest it will be held in Waco, Texas.

Tesla has since confirmed the Waco location. https://t.co/3Vexk1sa1B September 12, 2026 The Roadster is a hugely influential nameplate.

After all, the all-electric model that was heavily based on a Lotus Elise was arguably the car — and proof of concept — that kick-started the journey for the EV company.

As a result, Tesla fans and investors rushed to place deposits on the next generation when the project was first announced back in November 2017.

Back then, it was said that it would offer 620 miles of range, a sub-two-second 0-60 mph sprint time and a 250-mph top speed, according to Electrek .

Tesla still lists those figures on its Roadster website today.

Alas, a release date for the "quickest car in the world" has been pushed back multiple times , with some early investors suggesting that they had backed out of the purchase because it was taking too long, including influential YouTuber Marques Brownlee — also known as MKBHD.

In order to keep excitement levels high over the years, company founder and CEO Elon Musk has dropped several tidbits, including the fact that the Roadster could use cold-gas thrusters developed by SpaceX to achieve massive levels of straight-line performance.

It was even hinted that the vehicle would be able to hover or fly, with Musk telling podcast host Joe Rogan that his friend and entrepreneur Peter Thiel wanted flying cars and that his vision should be realized.

This was also backed up by a post on X, where Elon Musk responded to a poster by saying, “You will get flying cars” in 2026.