The Tesla Roadster can already leap into the air – but Finns are still waiting to buy one
After nine years of waiting, Tesla has unveiled a Roadster that accelerates almost like a rocket, performs stunts in the air and defies the idea of what a car is actually for. Now there’s just one small detail left to sort out: how to get one to an actual customer.
Finns are traditionally happy if their car starts at minus thirty, the engine block heater works and it passes its annual inspection without any welding.
Elon Musk has slightly different requirements.
Tesla’s new Roadster isn’t content with taking people from A to B. It is supposed to accelerate in the blink of an eye, go faster than 370 km/h (230 mph) and, in its special version, even leave the ground.
On Thursday 15 October 2026, Tesla unveiled the new Roadster prototype at a SpaceX test site in Texas – and it did exactly those kinds of stunts. The car drove upside down on a curved ramp, turned in mid-air and jumped over other vehicles using thrusters derived from rocket technology.
0–100 before you can say “perkele”
The Roadster’s performance figures sound as if the engineering department had been drinking stronger coffee than usual.
At the latest presentation, Tesla said the thruster-equipped car reaches about 97 km/h (60 mph) in under a second. Top speed was given as over 370 km/h (230 mph) and range as over 480 km (300 miles). These are manufacturer figures, not results from independent tests of a production car.
For comparison, the Roadster shown in 2017 was promised a range of about 1,000 km (620 miles) on a single charge and a top speed of over 400 km/h (250 mph). So the newly announced figures are, in part, more modest than before.
Slightly amusingly, right up until the reveal some of Tesla’s local websites – the Czech one, for example – still listed the original 2017 performance promises. The Roadster’s specs, it seems, are still a work in progress.
A Roadster with a little piece of SpaceX inside
The real gadget is hidden in the car’s propulsion system.
Tesla has developed the Roadster together with SpaceX engineers. The solution uses high-pressure gas thrusters that let the car perform extraordinary manoeuvres without the wing structure of a normal aircraft.
At the event, for example, the car turned in mid-air and landed in a controlled way. Driving upside down also relied on a suction system built into the car’s underbody.
At this point an ordinary Finnish driver might have a few questions.
What happens if slush gets into the thruster system? What if the underbody is caked in frozen road salt? And can you park it in the courtyard of a block of flats if it can hop over the roof of the building next door?
Tesla’s presentation didn’t answer these questions yet.
Nor is it clear whether the flying special versions will ever be approved for ordinary road traffic. A stunt that works at a show doesn’t mean the same feature will be allowed on public roads.
Three versions – and one of them is almost a spacecraft
Tesla has presented three trim levels for the Roadster.
| Version | What’s special |
|---|---|
| Performance | A more conventional high-performance electric sports car |
| Thrust | Thrusters for extra propulsion |
| Rocket | Single-seat special version with a flight system |
In the US, the deposit for the Performance version is $50,000 and for the Thrust version $250,000. The Rocket version is for invited customers only. The car’s actual final purchase price was not announced.
With the Rocket version, you could ask whether we’re still talking about a car or a training device for a private space programme.
In 2017 the future was supposed to arrive. Now the target is 2028.
The strangest part of the Roadster story may not be its ability to fly, but its long development time.
Tesla first unveiled the new-generation Roadster in November 2017. At the time, production was said to start in 2020.
2020 came and went.
So did 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Now, in October 2026, Elon Musk announced 2028 as the new production target. If that schedule holds, more than a decade will have passed since the first Roadster promises.
Some customers have been waiting for their car since paying substantial deposits years ago.
To a Finn, this sounds a bit like a building project where the sauna foundations are poured, the stove is ordered and the neighbours have been told it will be ready by next Midsummer.
Nobody just checked which year’s Midsummer.
Why is Tesla building a car like this?
The Roadster isn’t meant to replace an ordinary family car.
It’s a so-called halo car: a spectacular flagship model whose job is to show off the manufacturer’s engineering skills and generate interest in the whole brand.
Tesla is focusing more and more on autonomous driving, robotics and AI. In that picture, the Roadster serves as a showy technology test bed.
At the same time, it’s a reminder that a car doesn’t always have to be sensible to be interesting.
Finnish reality check: can the Roadster handle a summer-cottage road?
Finnish Reality Check
| Pulling away at traffic lights | Possibly a bit too effective |
| Cottage road during the spring thaw | Not tested yet |
| Frozen car door | Rocket technology may not help |
| Trailer and a load of firewood | Combination still unknown |
| Impressing the neighbours | Exceptionally promising |
Editorial tongue-in-cheek assessment – not a real test drive.
Hilavitkutin’s verdict
For all its absurdity, the Tesla Roadster is a fascinating technology experiment. It combines an electric car, a race car and rocket technology in a way that a few decades ago would have belonged mostly in comic books.
The October event showed that some of the wildest ideas can be made to work, at least in a prototype and demonstration setting.
It does not yet show that the technology would work reliably in normal traffic – or that the Roadster will end up in customers’ garages in 2028.
A Finnish engineer might sum up the whole project in three questions:
Is it possible? Apparently.
Is it sensible? Hardly for everyone.
Would I like to try it? Hell yes.
And maybe that’s exactly where the Tesla Roadster’s charm lies.
The world doesn’t necessarily need a flying sports car. But someone, evidently, just had to try building one.
Sources
- Tesla – Roadster (checked 19 Oct 2026)
- Reuters: Tesla’s new Roadster turns in air with SpaceX thrusters, won’t land until 2028 (15.10.2026) (checked 19 Oct 2026)
- AP News: Tesla’s Roadster gets thrusters and a suction system, but it’s not for public roads yet (checked 19 Oct 2026)
- The Indian Express – technical details of the presentation (checked 19 Oct 2026)
