Tesla's Roadster Finally Has a Date — and Four Questions It Can't Dodge
Tesla will show the second-generation Roadster in Waco on October 1 — its fifth target date this year alone. Price, delivery timing, the 2017 deposits, and the 2017 specs are all still open.
Tesla has put a date on the second-generation Roadster: October 1, 2026, at an invitation-only event in Waco, Texas. The company posted "Go for launch" on X on September 12 above a graphic reading "10.01," started a countdown on its Roadster page, and began sending digital tickets to reservation holders. Elon Musk replied to the post with "New Tesla Roadster Unveil 10.01."
The logistics, per the invitations attendees have shared: 8:30 p.m. ET (5:30 p.m. PT), RSVP by midnight PT on September 16, guests 21 and over only, tickets non-transferable. Tesla has not named the venue, said whether the event will be streamed, or described what will be on the stage.
That last gap is the story. The Roadster was shown as a prototype in November 2017 with a 2020 production target and $50,000 and $250,000 deposits. Nine years on, a date is not an answer. These four questions are what Tesla has to settle on October 1.
1. Is this the car people will buy, or a stunt?
Musk has said the production Roadster will be "very different" from the 2017 prototype. Reporting by The Information, relayed by Electrek in June, describes the delayed event as a showcase for a SpaceX-developed cold-gas thruster package, code-named A71, that Musk has long claimed will let the car briefly leave the ground. Waco sits near SpaceX's McGregor test site, which the same report named as the planned demo location.
The teaser on tesla.com fits that reading. It shows the car from behind in near-darkness: a low, angular tail with a full-width red light bar, a fin at each corner, and four white plumes rising from the rear deck. It does not show a wheel, a door, or a cabin, and Tesla has not said what the plumes are. What matters to a buyer is whether the car on stage is a production-intent vehicle with a specification Tesla will commit to, or a one-off thruster demo. Tesla has said only that the Roadster is in testing and will be built at Gigafactory Texas.
2. When does a customer actually get one?
October 1 is the fifth Roadster date of 2026 alone. Musk set April 1 at the November 2025 shareholder meeting and joked that the date gave him "deniability." It moved to late April in March, to "a month or so" on the first-quarter earnings call in April, to "August or later" per The Information in June, and now to October.
The more useful number is Musk's own production formula from that same November meeting: production starts 12 to 18 months after the demo. Count from October 1, 2026, and the first cars land between October 2027 and April 2028, seven to eight years past the original promise. Unless Tesla names a quarter on stage, that window is the only schedule a reservation holder has.
3. What does it cost, and what happens to the 2017 money?
Tesla quoted $200,000 for the base car and $250,000 for a 1,000-unit Founders Series in 2017. In December 2021 it removed both prices from its website and stopped taking Founders Series reservations, as Electrek documented at the time. The $50,000 base reservation reopened in April 2022 and is still open today, as a $5,000 card payment plus $45,000 by wire within 10 days, with no purchase price attached. Tesla has not published a Roadster price since.
So the buyer's question has three parts: what does the car cost now, do 2017 depositors keep the figure they reserved against, and do Founders Series holders keep their place at the front of the line? Musk said in November 2025 that Founders Series customers would be invited to the demo, and the tickets are going out. That is a courtesy, not a contract term.
4. Do the 2017 numbers survive?
The prototype's claims of 0–60 mph in under 2 seconds, a top speed above 250 mph, and 620 miles of range from a 200-kWh battery have never been attached to a production car, and Tesla has never named a test cycle for the range figure. Musk has since talked up a sub-1-second 0–60 with thrusters, a version reporting has described as a limited, track-only product. If the specification Tesla commits to belongs to the thruster car, the standard Roadster's numbers stay unknown; if it belongs to the standard car, the thruster figures stay marketing until a customer can order them.
Tesla's own history argues for patience with whatever is quoted. Its two other long-gestation reveals reached customers only after four to five years each, with numbers and prices that moved along the way. OctaneDaily tracks both: what a Cybertruck costs now and how long you'll wait, and the questions the European Semi still has to answer at IAA.
What the date does tell you
The timing is not random. October 1 falls the day after Tesla closes its third quarter, four weeks after it opened Cybercab rides to the public in Austin, and at the end of a September in which it also rolled out the European Semi ahead of IAA. A Roadster reveal at the close of that run reads as a bid for attention as much as a launch plan, which is fine, provided the four questions above get answers. If they don't, October 1 becomes the sixth date instead of the last one.
For readers with a Tesla in the driveway rather than a deposit on file, the changes that matter in 2026 are elsewhere; start with what replaced Autopilot and what you get now. We will update this story once Tesla puts specs, price, and timing on the record.
