Still waiting on a Tesla Roadster? You’d best get comfortable, because it doesn’t appear to be coming any time soon.
Tesla has confirmed in its latest investor deck the electric supercar, which made its public debut in 2017, is still “in development” and says where it’ll be built is “TBD”.
Initially slated for delivery in 2020, CEO Elon Musk in 2021 the team was “finishing engineering” and claimed deliveries would start in 2022, before reneging and promising they’d kick off in 2023.
When it was revealed in 2017, owners who laid down US$50,000 deposits were reportedly told to expect a 2020 delivery date for the second-generation Roadster.
The regular Roadster is priced at US$200,000 (A$260,000) while the Founder’s Edition has a $250,000 (A$325,000) sticker price.
As is Mr Musk’s wont, the Roadster was revealed alongside some huge claims about its performance and feature set.
The drop-top electric sports car will supposedly accelerate from standstill to 100km/h in 1.9 seconds, hit 160km/h in 4.2 seconds, and smash through the quarter mile in 8.9 seconds. A SpaceX version with cold-air thrusters has also been promised.
With a 200kWh battery pack and a claimed range of around 1000km, the Roadster promises to put the current Tesla line-up in the shade on all fronts.
Mr Musk has previously said the Roadster is a low priority for Tesla, which is currently working to ramp up production of the Cybertruck and is producing the Model S and Model X large cars, and the mid-sized Model 3 and Model Y.
