Tesla has been guiding the release of a new generation of the Roadster in 2020, but Elon Musk warned that the new electric hypercar is only a “dessert” and not really a priority as Tesla focuses on other things.
There’s no doubt that Tesla is still spending a lot of manpower on Model 3 and they made it clear that Model Y would be the priority after that.
But ever since unveiling an impressive prototype at the end of 2017, Tesla has been guiding the launch of a new Roadster in 2020.
The automaker started taking reservations and they used the vehicle as a prize in their referral program.
Now CEO Elon Musk appears to be tempering expectations about the timing of the release of the new Roadster.
When asked about the state of the Roadster program on Ride the Lighting podcast this weekend, Musk said:
“The new Roadster is a kind of dessert. Do we really need the new Roadster to accelerate our progress toward autonomy or toward electrification? No.”
The CEO didn’t outright say that the new Roadster is delayed nor did he confirm timing for production, but he made it clear that it isn’t a priority right now.
Musk also hinted at a potential production volume for the new Roadster for the first time:
“I don’t know, but it’s probably not more than 10,000 [units per year].”
While Musk is being timid about the timing, he is not shy about boosting the performance of the new Tesla Roadster:
“We are going to do some things with the new Roadster that are kind of unfair to other cars.”
He again referenced the ‘SpaceX package‘, which consists of cold air thrusters installed on the vehicle to give it an incredible power boost.
The CEO mentioned a potential 3 Gs of thrust:
“If you have 3 Gs of thrust, you can go in any direction. You can go up and accelerate with still more than 2 Gs.”
It’s not the first time that Musk claimed that the new Roadster is going to be able to lift off the ground.
Musk says that Tesla plans to “erase any halo effect of gasoline cars” with the new Roadster.
After a recent outing of the Tesla Roadster prototype, we got our first look at the next-gen Roadster’s trunk and as well as the back seats and door system.