Tesla, Inc. has continued taking pre-orders for its next-generation Roadster fully electric sports car. The automaker had closed the reservations for Founders Series versions in December 2021.
One more interesting bit about the new pre-orders is that Tesla’s online reservation page only shows the amount a customer has to pay instantly ($5,000) and the remaining $45,000 in the next 10 days. The total price of a Tesla Roadster is completely erased from the page.
Originally, the price of a Tesla Roadster was $200,000, and for a Founders Series Signature version, it was $250,000. At this time of inflation and chip shortage, Tesla might not want to bind themselves to a price that does not match the cost of a car delivered next year or so.
The Founders Series in Tesla terms are the cars that have a low VIN or the early-produced and priority delivery cars. They also have a Founders Series badge pasted on the rear of the vehicle.
The latest reservations page setup by Tesla does not offer a Founders Series Tesla Roadster. This might be because there already have been enough reservations for this version that the automaker can deliver.
While talking about the Cybertruck production schedule at Cyber Rodeo last week, Elon Musk also mentioned that Tesla will be starting next-gen Tesla Roadster production next year as well.
If not simultaneously, Tesla Roadster production should start a little later in 2023 following the Cybertruck. As Musk was describing things in his keynote at Cyber Rodeo, we can safely assume that Roadster production will also happen at Giga Texas.
Tesla unveiled the next-gen Roadster on November 16, 2017, at the Tesla Semi unveil event. A Tesla Roadster prototype was unloaded from a Tesla Semi trailer to a shocked audience both at the Fremont factory and thousands watching live online (watch below).
At this time Elon Musk promised that the Tesla Roadster will be the fastest production car ever made with a 0-60 time of 1.9 seconds. But with the launch of the Tesla Model S Plaid, this milestone has almost been achieved with a 0-60 mph time of 1.99 seconds.
So, with the current technology and battery advancements, the base variant of the Tesla Roadster should be able to do much better than 1.9 seconds. However, a Tesla Roadster will also be upgradable to a 1.1-second car with the SpaceX rocket thrusters package.
Tesla Roadster was the top prize of the company’s referral program once. Tesla has to give away at least 80 of these $250K Founders Series cars to lucky winners who have been patiently waiting for years now. Some of them have even won 2 Tesla Roadsters, so, it remains to be seen how Tesla fulfills its promise as production starts next year.
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 for the next-gen Tesla Roadster but removes the price of the car.){kind=link}