Elon Musk Unveils Tesla Roadster With Rocket-Style Thrusters
Elon Musk has unveiled a Tesla Roadster equipped with rocket-style thrusters, capable of launching into the air and performing a barrel roll during a Texas demonstration.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Tesla CEO Elon Musk has unveiled a new version of the company's Roadster sports car equipped with rocket-style thrusters, demonstrating the vehicle launching into the air and performing a full barrel roll during an event at a SpaceX facility in Texas.
The demonstration, livestreamed on Tesla's X account on Thursday, showed the two-seat Roadster accelerating up a steep steel ramp before rotating completely in mid-air and landing back on its wheels.
"Flying cars are real," Musk said during the event.
The vehicle carried no driver during the demonstration. Musk said the decision was made for safety reasons.
He explained that the Roadster is fitted with 10 nozzles and ultra-high-pressure air tanks, which can provide additional thrust both for airborne maneuvers and rapid acceleration on the road.
According to Musk, the car can accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour, or roughly 100 kilometers per hour, in less than one second and reach a top speed of around 230 mph, or 370 kph.
He described the project as the result of combining Tesla's automotive engineering with SpaceX's rocket expertise.
"It can basically fly like a rocket," Musk said.
Despite the dramatic demonstration, Musk acknowledged that the vehicle faces significant challenges.
He said the Roadster is "not necessarily a safety-optimized car" and suggested that it may not comply with regulations in every jurisdiction.
"I'm not sure it's necessarily legal in all jurisdictions, but there will be such a car that someone can own," he said.
Musk said the Roadster is intended to go into production in 2028.
That timeline remains uncertain, however, given that the unveiling had already been delayed repeatedly and had been anticipated for years.
Tesla currently allows customers to reserve two versions of the Roadster on its website: a Performance model and a Thrust version equipped with enhanced thruster technology. Final prices have not yet been announced.
The concept also enters a field that has long struggled with technical and regulatory barriers.
Flying-car designs have existed for more than a century, dating back to aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss' 1917 prototype, but practical development has accelerated only in recent years as electric motors and battery technology have improved.
Musk's latest Roadster therefore represents a striking engineering demonstration, but whether it can become a widely road-legal production vehicle remains uncertain.