Tesla reopens $50,000 Roadster reservations before its October 1 reveal

Tesla has reopened reservations for its long-delayed second-generation Roadster, asking would-be buyers for $50,000 just eleven days before the car’s October 1 reveal near Waco, Texas. The order page splits that total into a $5,000 credit-card payment described as fully refundable and a $45,000 wire transfer due within 10 days, with the reservation not considered final until the wire clears.

Tesla shuttered Roadster reservations in 2021, years after first collecting deposits in 2017, and had stripped pricing from its site during the gap that followed. Reopening the order page now, with a reveal date finally on the calendar, is the clearest signal yet that the company intends to show up on October 1 with something concrete rather than another postponement, even though the order page itself still lists no confirmed retail price.

Nine Years Since the First $50,000 Check

Tesla first opened Roadster reservations in November 2017, promising 620 miles of range, a 0-60 mph time under 1.9 seconds, and a top speed above 250 mph, alongside a base price of $200,000. None of those original performance claims has been delivered or retested on a finished car. The Roadster has slipped past target after target, including an initial 2020 production date, as Tesla prioritized Model Y volume and then Cybertruck production ahead of it, pushing the car’s actual debut back by roughly a decade from what buyers signed up for.

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, who put down an early $50,000 deposit, captured the wait publicly in 2025, writing that “7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait”. Musk disputed the specifics of Altman’s account at the time, saying Altman had actually received a refund rather than remaining a reservation holder.

A Reveal Confirmed With a Post on X

Tesla confirmed the October 1 date on September 12 with a post on X reading “Go for launch,” paired with a graphic reading “10.01.” The company has said the Waco event, held roughly 90 minutes from Tesla’s Austin headquarters, will finally disclose pricing, specifications, and production targets — details that have been absent from the order page since reservations reopened.

Musk has been explicit that the event needs to happen in front of real people. An audience is needed “to vouch for the fact that this is not AI,” he said of the Waco demonstration, an unusual caveat for a car unveiling that reflects how much skepticism has built up around Roadster claims after nine years of promises. Musk has separately acknowledged that production itself will not start immediately after the reveal, telling reporters earlier this year that the car would need another 12 to 18 months of engineering work once the design is finally shown.

SpaceX Thrusters Still an Open Question

Part of that skepticism centers on the SpaceX-designed cold gas thrusters Musk has floated as an optional package, intended to let the Roadster briefly boost its acceleration using rocket propulsion rather than motors and tires alone. Whether that feature survives into any street-legal production version, as opposed to a stunt demonstration car, remains unresolved; Tesla has not confirmed it as a production option, only teased it ahead of the reveal. The Information has separately reported that Tesla scrapped the Roadster’s original 2017 exterior design altogether in favor of a new look that has not yet been shown publicly, adding another unknown to a reveal already carrying nine years of accumulated promises.

Teslarati’s review of the reopened order page found no confirmed retail price or firm production date listed anywhere on it, only the $50,000 deposit terms and a note that production is now targeted for 2027 or 2028 at Gigafactory Texas, a full decade or more removed from the car’s original 2017 debut.

Markets Barely Reacted

Tesla’s stock ticked up a modest 0.69 percent in after-hours trading on the reservation news, a muted response for a car whose original specs once promised to be the quickest production vehicle ever built. Analyst rankings tracked by Benzinga rated Tesla’s near-term momentum unfavorably even as the Roadster news circulated, suggesting investors are treating the reopened reservations as a marketing moment rather than a business catalyst. That reaction lines up with how little the reveal is expected to change Tesla’s core business in the short term, since even an on-schedule October 1 unveiling still leaves production more than a year away by Musk’s own estimate.

Whatever Tesla shows on October 1 will have to answer for nine years of specifications that were never delivered, a starting price that has not been reconfirmed, and reservation holders who, like Altman, have already spent years waiting for a car whose configurator has yet to go live. The company has not said how many of the original 2017 depositors are still in line rather than refunded, so the size of the audience waiting on a firm price and delivery date is, for now, another number Tesla has kept off the order page.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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