Elon Musk has revealed Tesla’s latest model, which he claims will be the world’s first flying car, using technology from his aerospace company SpaceX to “basically fly like a rocket”.
The billionaire, who hosted a demonstration of the Tesla Roadster 2 at the SpaceX rocket development and testing facility in Texas, said the sports car could go from 0 to 60mph in a record time of less than a second and had thrusters.
A video of the event shows the Roadster, which he said was controlled remotely “to make sure we don’t kill anyone”, driving up a curved ramp using suction to grip upside down, before using thrusters to flip, fly and land.
Later in the demonstration the Roadster is seen using the jets to leap over a line of Tesla’s existing models and then accelerate to 60mph in record time.
“Turns out the future does have flying cars,” Musk said in a post on his social media site, X, accompanying a video from the event.
Speaking at the event on Thursday, Musk said: “Flying cars are real. It’s got altitude controls, thrusters and main thrusters in the rear. So it can basically fly like a rocket, it can do rolls, crazy gymnastics.”
“I’m not sure it’s necessarily legal in all jurisdictions,” Musk said, adding that the prototype was “not necessarily a safety optimised car but it takes the fun meter to 11”.
In 2014 Musk expressed his scepticism about a future with flying vehicles.
However, three years later he announced the development of the Roadster 2, which will go into production in 2028 and priced in excess of $200,000, (£150,000), to create an electric sports car “to give a hardcore smackdown to gasoline cars”.
After the event, a Tesla reservation website for expressing interest in the two-seater Roadster 2 showed that a “performance” version of the vehicle would require a £50,000 deposit. A “thrust” version would require a $250,000 deposit.
Meanwhile, a one-seater “rocket” variant with “full flight system” was labelled as being available only by invitation. The car company added that flying it was not permitted on public roads.
