Tesla planned to unveil a redesigned Roadster at an event scheduled for 8:55 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, at a SpaceX test site in McGregor, Texas, according to the supplied report. The announcement follows years of delays for the electric sports car, which Tesla first previewed in 2017.
When Tesla introduced the next-generation prototype, the company said deliveries would start in 2020. The source gives no revised delivery date. It lists the Roadster at $200,000 and says reservations cost $50,000 each; it does not provide an updated vehicle price or details of the reservation terms.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has previously characterized the car as a limited financial opportunity for the company. In 2023, he described the Roadster as a “small potato situation” and said it would not substantially affect Tesla’s finances. The report also cites Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein, who wrote last month that Tesla lacks a high-performance luxury model that showcases its engineering and technology. Goldstein described the Roadster as a prospective “halo car.”
Tesla has made ambitious performance and range claims about the vehicle over time. Musk said in 2017 that the four-seat car could travel 620 miles on a charge. In a 2024 post on X, he said the vehicle had been redesigned. In that update, Musk claimed it could accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in under a second, while saying that figure was not the car’s most interesting feature. He also described it as a collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX. The supplied material does not independently verify those performance claims or provide specifications for the redesigned version.
Goldstein expects annual Roadster sales of about 2,000 vehicles, according to the report. That would be a small share of the 1.6 million vehicles Tesla sold last year. The estimate is an analyst forecast, not a reported sales result.
The Roadster’s place in Tesla’s history dates to the company’s first production vehicle. The original Roadster went on sale in 2008 and remained in production through 2012. It was built using a Lotus Elise chassis and preceded Tesla’s later Model S and Model 3 sedans and Model X and Model Y SUVs.
The planned reveal comes as Tesla shifts attention toward artificial intelligence, self-driving technology and robotics, the report says. It also notes that Tesla has stopped selling the Model S and Model X to make room for production of Optimus humanoid robots. The company has introduced Cybercab, a two-seat robotaxi described in the report as lacking a steering wheel, pedals and mirrors. The source does not provide further information about the timing or scale of those production changes.
The event was still scheduled for Thursday evening in the supplied report, published Oct. 15, 2026. It describes a planned reveal rather than confirming what Tesla ultimately presented or whether the event took place.
