Tesla Targets 2028 for Roadster Production, With a $250,000 Thruster Option
Tesla has unveiled a redesigned Roadster and says it plans to start production in 2028. The car was shown at the company's October 15 event, where the production window was shared on stage Engadget.
Musk gave the date himself. "We enter production in 2028. Actually, for real." This is an announced plan, not the start of production. Tesla has not shared expected volume, timing within the year, or manufacturing location.
The vehicle shown uses rocket-style thrusters Reuters. Tesla is taking reservations for a "Thrust" trim with cold-gas thrusters, small jets that use pressurized gas for extra push, at $250,000 Engadget. Musk did not give a final sticker price for the production car NewsNation. The reservation payment holds a place in line for the thruster version. It is separate from the final purchase price, which is still undisclosed.
Tesla positions the next-generation model as an electric sports car Quartz. On its product page, the company calls it the quickest vehicle in the world, with record-setting acceleration, range and performance Tesla. Those are company descriptions, not independent test results. No certified performance figures were included in the verified disclosures around the event.
Tesla reported that in the third quarter of 2026 it produced over 464,000 vehicles, delivered over 486,000 vehicles and deployed 13.7 GWh of energy storage products Tesla IR. GWh, or gigawatt-hours, measures how much energy storage can hold.
The Roadster nameplate is the oldest in Tesla's lineup. Regular production of the 2008 Tesla Roadster started on March 17, 2008 Tesla IR. That first car established Tesla as a maker of battery-electric performance vehicles, before the company expanded into sedans, crossovers and storage. The October 15 reveal followed a September signal from Musk that Tesla would unveil the Roadster on October 1 Reuters.
The broader context here is the difference between showing a flagship and building one at scale. A limited-run sports car takes different work than a 400,000-vehicle quarter: composite body work, low-volume assembly, special service training, and here fitting a pressurized thruster system into a street-legal car. That brings packaging, heat, safety certification and service questions for cold-gas thrusters, plus range, weight and crash questions. The two-week move from October 1 to October 15 is small alone, and a low-volume Roadster would not shift Tesla's delivery totals much even if the 2028 target holds.
In my view, the Roadster should not be judged on volume or revenue. It is better judged as a technology demonstrator and brand signal that can draw engineering talent, supplier work and customer attention, if Tesla can finish validation without pulling focus from its main car and storage business. Pricing needs care. A $250,000 reservation for the Thrust trim with no final sticker price asks early buyers to carry risk. If production starts in 2028, the gain is less about units and more about what designers, suppliers and regulators learn at the outer edge of road-car performance.
