The next generation Tesla Roadster was first revealed in 2017 as a “one more thing” following the unveiling of the Tesla Semi.
Unfortunately both products have been subject to several delays since then, and production is not slated to begin until at least 2023.
During the product roadmap update at the Q4 2021 earnings call last month, CEO Elon Musk didn’t provide an update on the Roadster, leaving fans and customers, many of whom paid the full $250,000 sticker price up front, in the dark about the high performance sports car.
However, in a recent episode of Spike’s Car Radio podcast, Tesla’s Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen gave new details on how development of the Roadster is progressing.
“We’re working on the Roadster. I wish we were working faster, but I have to also say that in the time that we have been developing it, we have also been learning a lot, like Plaid is a great learning platform, that all those experiences will make its way back into a much better Roadster than had we launched right after when we debuted it. It will be an amazing, exciting flying machine,” he said.
He also confirmed the company still plans to release it, a statement which should calm some fears that the Roadster was becoming ‘vaporware.’
“No products can come fast enough from us for the public, but rest assured we are working on it feverishly.”
As we first reported, Tesla updated the Roadster website last year, removing reservations for the limited edition Founders Series, indicating they have sold all 1,000 that were originally said to be built. They also removed pricing for new reservations.
You can hear the relevant segment from the podcast below, or you can listen to the full episode here.
Tesla Design Chief on new Roadster: We’re working on it; In the time we’ve been developing it,we’ve also been learning a lot. Plaid’s a great learning platform that all these experiences will make its way back into a much better Roadster than had we launched right after we debut. pic.twitter.com/1vd7vhwmeh
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) February 9, 2022
