Is Tesla's "flying" supercar coming?

After nearly a decade of waiting, Tesla is set to unveil the next-generation Roadster as early as this month — a vehicle that is not just fast, but also capable of "flying".

Recently, according to a report by The Information, three people with knowledge of the matter revealed that Tesla is preparing for the launch event of the new Roadster, which may be held as early as this month. A stunt show will be staged at the launch site to demonstrate the "flying" capability of the limited-edition Roadster, and the demonstration is expected to take place at SpaceX's test facility in McGregor, Texas.

The vehicle's "flying" capability comes from cold gas thrusters — a technology commonly used in rockets, jointly developed by Tesla and SpaceX. Due to the extremely high noise level of the thrusters, the demonstration vehicle will be operated remotely with no one on board, and all audience members must stand hundreds of yards away.

So far, Tesla's stock price has fallen by nearly a quarter cumulatively this year, while the Nasdaq index has risen by 15% over the same period. The debut of the new Roadster is seen by the market as a signal from Tesla: while betting heavily on AI and robotics, it remains an automaker at its core.

Stunt Show: Magnetic Track, Upside-Down Driving, Hovering

According to descriptions from three people familiar with the matter, as recently as a few months ago, Tesla's demonstration plan was quite sci-fi: The vehicle would drive onto a magnetized roller-coaster-style ramp, complete upside-down driving before resetting automatically, and then hover in the air.

However, this plan has been scaled back. According to a source familiar with the matter, Tesla previously previewed the plan for Elon Musk, before postponing the demonstration and cutting some segments.

Musk recently informed some Tesla employees that "This demonstration is very difficult to execute perfectly and may go wrong, but it will be spectacular no matter what."

It remains unclear whether Tesla will broadcast the event live, or only release pre-recorded footage.

From Sports Car to "Flying Vehicle": Multiple Overhauls in Design

The birth of the new Roadster is a history of constant overturning and reworking.

In 2017, Tesla unexpectedly unveiled the brand-new Roadster prototype at a semi-trailer truck launch event, announcing that deliveries would begin within three years. Since then, the delivery timeline has been delayed at least eight times.

In 2022, the project was accelerated again. The design team was split into two groups: one worked on modifications based on the Model S Plaid platform, while the other started from scratch, adopting an ultra-light carbon fiber body structure — a manufacturing method similar to that of top-tier performance cars and racing cars.

Musk chose the latter, and asked the team to "get it right, or don't do it at all". This meant Tesla had to develop a brand-new supercar, while the company had very limited experience in this field at the time.

To this end, Tesla recruited multiple engineers from Italy, including Stefan Nothdurfter, former Engineering Director at Lamborghini.

"Flying" Directive: Engineers Stared at Each Other in Bewilderment

Musk's requirements for the Roadster kept escalating. He first said he wanted to build "the fastest production car in history", then later said he wanted it to be "crazier than all James Bond cars combined", and finally proposed: This car must be able to fly.

A person involved in the project recalled that Musk said "it has to be much, much crazier", and the engineers looked at each other at the time, thinking: "How the hell are we supposed to make this thing fly?"

Another person familiar with the matter revealed that the very definition of "flying" has been evolving: "The engineers' initial question was, 'What on earth does flying mean?'... We thought at first we were building an aircraft, but what we ended up with is much closer to hovering."

In 2024, the Tesla team began to work closely with engineers from SpaceX's Starship propulsion team, including Bill Riley, Vice President of Starship Engineering. The main engineering work for the cold gas thrusters was undertaken by the Tesla team, and one of the biggest challenges was how to keep a car designed for ground driving sufficiently stable after lifting off the ground.

Design Language: A Fusion of the SR-71 Blackbird Reconnaissance Plane and Lamborghini

Tesla also went through a tortuous path in exterior design.

Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen once wanted the new car to pay tribute to the Lamborghini Countach, but later changed direction, requiring the vehicle to resemble the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird high-speed reconnaissance plane from the Cold War era. The project thus got the internal codename "A-71".

This direction pushed the team to explore a large number of radical angular shapes and unconventional designs. By 2025, the final plan became more conservative, integrating some elements of the Countach style.

According to three people familiar with the matter, at the end of last year, Tesla had completed a functional prototype, which is a two-seater vehicle with butterfly doors. The standard version and the limited edition are expected to have similar appearances.

Limited Edition: Not Road-Legal, Priced Potentially in the Millions of Dollars

The limited-edition Roadster is positioned as an extremely niche product.

According to people familiar with the matter, this version is not expected to comply with road traffic regulations, and its selling price may reach hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

Tesla internally discussed allowing some super fans to purchase the demonstration version of the vehicle — this version will carry the SpaceX brand logo, and operate following the model of Ferrari's XX Program (i.e., owners drive track-only racing cars under supervision).

In addition, the team also considered designing the limited edition as a single-seater, replacing the passenger seat with cold gas thrusters. In the current design scheme, the driver will most likely not be able to sit in the vehicle when the thrusters are working — noise is the main reason.

Nearly a Decade of Waiting: Reservation Holders Are Running Out of Patience

In 2017, Tesla opened reservations, with a $50,000 deposit for the standard version and a $250,000 deposit for the limited "Founders Series" edition.

Since then, several well-known reservation holders have publicly announced that they have canceled their orders, including YouTuber Marques Brownlee and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Musk has repeatedly teased those "long-suffering" Roadster reservation holders at shareholder events.

Rick Bhowmick, an employee at a New York-based investment firm, reserved the new Roadster in 2021. He once owned the first-generation Roadster and still has expectations for Tesla, but he also admitted: "I am quite skeptical that this will actually happen, mainly for economic reasons. My hope is that either this works out and I get the car of my dreams, or they cancel the project and refund everyone's money."

Tesla and SpaceX: The Merger Imagination Behind a Single Vehicle

The new Roadster has another layer of significance — it is the physical embodiment of the deep collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX.

According to The Information, the two companies are cooperating more and more closely in multiple fields including AI, robotics, and the Terafab chip manufacturing facility, and the possibility of a formal merger is being increasingly discussed in the market. On last month's earnings call, Musk was somewhat perfunctory when pressed by analysts about the merger timeline, only stating that such an event would require "proper processes".

For Tesla, the Roadster means more than just a car. It is the starting point of the company, and also a personal emotional sustenance for Musk — in 2018, he strapped his own cherry-red first-generation Roadster to a SpaceX rocket and sent it into orbit around the Sun.

This article does not constitute personal investment advice, does not represent the position of the platform. The market is risky, and investment requires caution. Please make independent judgments and decisions.

This article is from the WeChat public account "WallStreetCN", Author: Long Yue, published with authorization from 36Kr.