Tesla's flying Roadster jumps cars, hovers and drives upside down
Tesla says its next Roadster can fly, drive upside down and reach 60 miles per hour in a claimed 0.81 seconds.
The two-seat, all-electric sports car was shown off in a live stunt display built around short flights rather than a normal road test, according to the unveiling report Dezeen.
It left the ground in three different ways. It drove up a half-pipe ramp and launched off the top. It stayed up for a few seconds. Then it landed.
The car also took off from flat ground after building up speed, clearing a row of parked vehicles. In a third test, it rose straight from a stationary position, with no run-up at all.
The upside-down driving came next. The Roadster climbed the curved wall of the half-pipe and held its position while inverted. Tesla attributed the grip to a fan suction system, which pulls the car towards the surface to keep it in place.
Lift came from compressed-air thrusters, in effect small jets that use pressurised air to push the car upward. Tesla said thrusters in the bottom and back of the car lifted it and then softened the touchdown.
The company said the air tanks that power the system are rechargeable and can be recompressed without fuel. It did not publish a range for how many lifts the tanks allow before recharging.
Speed was the other headline claim. In the demonstration the Roadster reached 60 miles per hour in a claimed 0.81 seconds. Tesla said that would make it the quickest production vehicle to 60 miles per hour.
For anyone watching, the appeal was simple. It looked less like a car launch and more like a stunt show, with jumps, hovers and an upside-down pause for the cameras.
The unveiling followed years of delay. Tesla had been expected to show a redesigned next-generation Roadster in October 2026, and company chief Elon Musk said in September 2026 that the reveal would happen on 1 October Reuters. Reservations were priced at US$50,000 each as of October 2026.
Tesla describes the Roadster as an all-electric sports car and as the quickest vehicle in the world Tesla. It said production of the flying version is set for 2028.
