Tesla unveils the new Roadster with SpaceX propulsion. A show for Musk: the car flies

If time doesn't fly, the car does. Almost nine years after the first model, released in 2008 and discontinued in 2012, Tesla has unveiled the new generation of its Roadster, a two-seater roadster capable of impressive performance such as 0-100 in less than one second and a top speed of 370 km/h. But for Elon Musk's company, it was not just any launch: the Roadster 2.0 is equipped, in addition to the most advanced technologies of the brand, with special features developed in collaboration with SpaceX, Musk's aerospace company. Namely, air-powered rockets that can lift the car for short distances and land it like a space module, and an aspiration system that allows the car to remain stuck to the road even upside down. At least this is what was seen during the presentation held at a SpaceX test site in Texas. A kind of science fiction vehicle, but which will actually be mass-produced from 2028. Elon Musk demonstrated the vehicle's features, making it traverse a ramp downwards thanks to an aspiration system and perform a rotation in the air, then land using the integrated thrusters. "Flying cars are a reality," Musk said after the demonstration. It was not immediately specified whether these functionalities can be legally used on the roads, also because flying cars have only been seen in movies so far. After the presentation, the booking page for the Roadster on the Tesla website showed a Performance version, for which a deposit of $50,000 is required, and a Thrust version, equipped with "acceleration thrusters," which requires a deposit of $250,000. A third variant, named Rocket, which Tesla declares available by invitation only, is described as a single-seater model equipped with a "full flight system." Musk did not provide indications on the expected prices, even though almost ten years ago Tesla had announced a base price of $200,000, already exceeded by the deposit for the Thrust variant. The Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein predicts that Tesla will sell about 2,000 Roadsters per year, a fraction of the 1.6 million vehicles sold by the company last year with Model Y and Model 3, which remain the brand's core business. The presentation of the second-generation Roadster also comes at a time when Tesla is focusing its attention also on autonomous driving technologies based on artificial intelligence and robotics, with Optimus, Robotaxis, and Cybercabs.