“One of us” showed up to Friday’s team call ready to shrug. After staying up late for Tesla’s Cybercab reveal a couple years ago, our writer skipped Thursday’s livestream entirely and gave the rest of the team a blunt challenge: make me care.
They did. Their excitement, and honestly their optimism, helped reframe the night as a milestone: a public checkpoint on the road between a wild vision and the world it might eventually build. Nobody at Tesla expects you to buy one next week.
“We’re really looking into the future of technology. It’s going to be a while until you physically see this, but it’s definitely a proof-of-concept moment.”
Rob Downes, Designer, More Than Cars
What did Tesla actually show in McGregor?
At a SpaceX test site near Waco, Tesla unveiled its redesigned second-generation Roadster, nearly nine years after the first prototype debuted. The demo car climbed a curved ramp, hung upside down, launched off, flipped in midair, and landed.
The slowest moment of the night turned out to be the most impressive one.
“It was slowly inching up there. It got to the top, stopped for a little bit, and then backed its way down. Complete control the whole time.”
Nathan Southwick, Head of Production, More Than Cars
The technology behind the stunts includes:
Suction fans under the car which Tesla says pull enough air to hold it upside down, even when it’s stationary
Cold-gas thrusters developed with SpaceX, fed by carbon-fiber pressure tanks packed into the car’s open spaces
Active wings driven by the same actuators Tesla built for its Optimus humanoid robot
A steer-by-wire yoke in a cabin built from magnesium, titanium, and carbon fiber
Tesla is offering three versions:
Trim | Availability | What it adds | Claimed 0-60 |
|---|---|---|---|
Performance | By reservation, two seats | Active aero and suction system | Under 1.6 sec |
Thrust | Limited release, two seats | Rear cold-gas thrusters | Under 0.9 sec |
Rocket | Invite only, one seat, not approved for public roads | Perimeter thrusters for lift and rotation | Under 0.59 sec |
Production is slated for 2028, and pricing hasn’t been announced.
Some of the 2017 promises got smaller on the way to 2028
Comparing the 2017 prototype’s promises to Thursday’s specs:
Range: down from 620 miles to over 300
Top speed: down from above 250 mph to over 230
Seating: down from four seats to a maximum of two
Base 0-60: improved from 1.9 seconds to under 1.6
Timeline: moved from 2020 deliveries to a 2028 production start
The spectacle grew while the everyday specs shrank, and both of those things can be true at once.
Why should dealers care about a car nobody will buy from them?
Some of our team watched from home, and the reactions there told the story.
“My wife asked what I was watching. I told her, ‘Look, the car is flying.’ She said, ‘That’s AI.’”
Spencer Wright, Producer, More Than Cars
That reaction explains why the event mattered. Tesla ran the demo live, in front of a crowd, with clunky transitions and slow-loading screens, and Nathan argued the rough edges made it more believable. When customers assume anything impressive on a screen is fake, watching something happen in person carries real weight.
Tesla needs that weight right now. It stopped selling the Model S and X this year, sales of its aging lineup have declined over the past two years, and Q3 results land Oct. 21. Morningstar’s Seth Goldstein has described the Roadster as Tesla’s future halo car, the vehicle that makes the rest of the lineup feel more exciting.
For your store, the lesson scales down nicely. The most persuasive thing you can offer a doubtful customer is something real happening right in front of them: a test drive, a live feature walkthrough, a demo that works on the first try (or the second).
