Elon Musk made a rare comment about Tesla Roadster production, which had been delayed a few times, and he hinted at a start to production in California within 12 to 18 months.
When Tesla first unveiled the new Roadster in 2017, Musk said that it was coming in 2020. While Tesla never officially delayed the Roadster, Musk did say last year that it wasn’t a priority, hinting at the production likely being pushed beyond 2020.
Earlier this year, Musk hinted at Tesla Roadster being delayed to 2022 as the automaker focuses on the Cybertruck. However, the CEO has now made some rare new comments about the production of the next-generation Tesla Roadster.
During the conference call that followed the release of Tesla’s Q2 2020 financial results, Musk confirmed tentatively that Tesla plans to build the Roadster in California, and he mentioned the new vehicle as part of Tesla’s updated product roadmap to hit production in the next 12 to 18 months.
It would place the start of production in mid to late 2021 — around the same time that Tesla plans to release the new Cybertruck, which is going to be built in Austin, Texas.
While the CEO was using tentative language in talking about the product roadmap, this is the clearest timeline for the new Roadster that Tesla has communicated to date.
In previous comments, Musk stated that the new Roadster is more of a “dessert” for Tesla, and while it will not have a great impact on electrification due to its price, it serves as a “smack” to the combustion engine by becoming a “halo” car that dominates the supercar segment.
When first unveiling the vehicle, Musk claimed a list of insanely impressive specs for the new Roadster, including 0-60 mph in 1.9 sec, 620-mile of range, and more.
At the time, the CEO said that those were the specs for the “base version” of the Roadster, and the CEO reiterated that during the new interview — without confirming the specs of the higher-end version.
Furthermore, Musk confirmed that the “SpaceX package” is still in the plans for the new Tesla Roadster. Based on his previous comments, the “SpaceX package” consists of a bunch of cold air thrusters around the car to improve performance.
Earlier this year, the CEO said that Tesla might give an update on the new Roadster and the Tesla Semi later this year. The latter was more prominently discussed during the earnings call with Jerome Guillen, the Tesla executive behind the program, saying that the company is making progress toward bringing the vehicle to production next year.
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