Investor Ross Gerber said on Sunday that he saw Tesla's Roadster unveiling as a marketing and promotional demonstration, not the imminent launch of a flying car as he had initially expected. In an X post, he said the event made clear it was “a marketing demonstration from an old hot wheels dream of Elon’s.” Musk responded that owners would be able to have the Roadster perform the shown tricks autonomously, as it will be “sentient,” and that Tesla will build a looping track at its Texas HQ for testing. The debut also fueled speculation about a SpaceX–Tesla merger, which Gerber and Dan Ives considered obvious, while Barclays analyst Dan Levy said such a proposal could be presented to investors as early as December this year.
Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.
Read the original on Yahoo Finance ↗
Keywords
TeslaElon Muskelectric vehicles
Open a keyword to see other news on the same topic.
Related tickers and likely impact
TSLA
• NeutralTesla, Inc.
Relevance: low
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Consumer Discretionary |
| Industry | Automobile Manufacturers |
| Market cap | $1.4T |
| Close on 10/16/2026 | 354.67 |
| Change that session | -2.14% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
Related news
- Flying Teslas and SpaceX stock giveaways: What's Elon Musk up to?
Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi shares his takeaways from a week of activity by Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX (SPCX) and Tesla (TSLA). During this period, Musk introduced the world's first flying car and announced a SpaceX stock giveaway for every child in America.
- Ron DeSantis says Tesla's flying Roadster will be legal in Florida — and could 'leapfrog golf carts in the Villages'
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he will ensure Tesla's flying Roadster is legal in the state, joking it could 'leapfrog golf carts in The Villages.' His comments followed Elon Musk's October 15 unveiling at a SpaceX facility in Texas, where a Roadster accelerated up a ramp, became airborne, rotated 180 degrees and landed on its wheels. Production is not expected to begin until 2028 at the earliest, and Tesla has not announced a price for the flying Rocket version, while a conventional Roadster can be reserved with a $5,000 deposit. The article notes that state approval alone cannot make the vehicle street-legal or cleared for flight, since NHTSA and the FAA oversee federal safety rules, and insurers still face questions about coverage for airborne use and liability between manufacturer, driver and operator.
- Tesla’s Roadster and the SpaceX Halo
- Tesla's flying Roadster requires a $50,000 deposit — but even Musk isn't sure it's street-legal
On October 15, Tesla VP of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy declared “flying cars are real” at a SpaceX facility in McGregor, Texas, where the second-generation Roadster was demonstrated climbing an inverted track, flipping through the air and landing softly before driving off. The car uses an underbody suction fan and compressed-air cold-gas thrusters to reach 0–60 mph in under one second. The Rocket version sits in a legal gray area, as its high-pressure gas tanks, aerospace-grade valves and protruding nozzles may conflict with NHTSA's federal motor vehicle safety standards, such as the requirement for crumple zones. Tesla's product page says the vehicle is “not approved for public road use,” and Musk said he is not sure it is legal in every jurisdiction; an NHTSA spokesperson said the manufacturer must ensure it does not defy federal standards and drivers must obey local traffic laws.
- America's First Flying Car Maker 'Challenges' Elon Musk to a Race
Alef Aeronautics, which calls itself America's first flying car maker, posted a video on X on October 17 that shows its vehicle flying over an old Tesla Roadster, tagging Elon Musk and Tesla in a challenge to race and stressing that it has worked in the field for 11 years. The post came two days after Musk unveiled a flying Tesla Roadster. Founded in 2015 by CEO Jim Dukhovny, the company's model A can fly 177 km on a single charge, costs nearly $300,000, and received government flight certification in 2023. Alef has taken more than 3,600 pre-orders worth $1 billion and began commercial production in California last year, with its first deliveries expected by the end of this year for controlled flight tests. By 2027, as production ramps up, the company plans to train and support its first flying car pilots.
- How to buy the flying Tesla roadster ? Reservations now open for Indian customers
Tesla demonstrated a next-generation Roadster stunt at a SpaceX facility in McGregor, Texas, on October 15, in which the car drove up a curved ramp, flipped upside down, and landed on its tires. The family-focused Model Y L receives a complimentary Acceleration Boost that cuts its 0-100 km/h sprint to 4.5 seconds while keeping a WLTP range of up to 681 km. Tesla currently supports Indian drivers with 20 Supercharger stalls and 28 Destination Charger stalls, with three more charging sites planned before the end of 2026. Model Y pricing starts at ₹50,89,000 with a ₹6,00,000 down payment and EMIs from ₹39,990, while the Model Y L starts at ₹61,99,000 with a ₹6,50,000 down payment and EMIs from ₹49,990 on a 7-year, 8.5% APR step-up plan. Existing owners earn ₹11,000 in credits per successful referral, new buyers get ₹22,000 off, and test drives can be booked at tesla.com/en_in/drive.
Related markets
Latest news
- Is Nvidia Stock Really Trading for Just 8 Times 2030 Earnings?
Nvidia is the market's most valuable company, with a market cap above $5 trillion. It trades at 27 times adjusted trailing earnings, but only about 8 times analysts' estimate for fiscal 2030 earnings, a figure the author stresses is a moving target. Revenue growth accelerated from 56% in Q2 FY 2026 to 106% in Q2 FY 2027, though guidance points to a slight slowdown in the current quarter. The stock trades at 13 times next year's earnings, and the board recently authorized a record $150 billion in share repurchases. The author also acknowledges risks such as slower growth or contracting net margins.
- US Orders Civilian Agencies to Rip DeepSeek Out of Government Systems
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Monday ordered civilian federal agencies to remove DeepSeek products and third-party services built on the model from their IT systems, and to stop buying them. The notice warns that using DeepSeek may transfer sensitive data to China and could produce intelligence on U.S. persons and agencies. The Commerce Department, the Navy, and the states of New York, Tennessee and Virginia had already restricted DeepSeek. The FCC votes on October 29 on barring Chinese labs from testing electronics for U.S. use.
- Tesla-SpaceX merger is 'not so easy': Analyst
Speculation about a possible merger between SpaceX (SPCX) and Tesla (TSLA) has grown on Wall Street in recent weeks. RBC Capital Markets analyst Tom Narayan says it would not be simple: SpaceX would have to acquire Tesla, likely in an all-stock deal, and would need to pay a strong premium. He sets a $480 price target for Tesla, while the shares trade near $367. The longer-term focus may be Terafab, Elon Musk's chip initiative aimed at cutting production costs by up to 90% and bypassing Nvidia and TSMC. Musk currently controls 85% of SpaceX's voting rights and 20% of Tesla's.
- Is Nvidia (NVDA) Stock Priced Right?
Chip stocks fell sharply last week, and Nvidia (NVDA) dropped nearly 2% as investors worried that heavily indebted AI companies would face higher borrowing costs after bond yields jumped for CoreWeave, a cloud company Nvidia backs. CoreWeave shares had fallen more than 15% the day before. Nvidia's own numbers show no sign of that stress: it sold $96.2 billion of chips and systems in the quarter ended July, up 106% from a year earlier, mostly from data center sales. Its net profit margin was 63.66% over the past 12 months, and management expects $108.0 billion in revenue next quarter, assuming no data center sales to China. The key risk is whether customers can keep paying for chips if interest rates stay high, and the planned partnerships to bring over $500 billion of outside capital into AI infrastructure have not yet become definitive agreements.
- Networking Stocks Rally as Tech Rebound Lifts AI Gear Makers: Ciena and Arista Climb 4%, but Cisco Barely Moves
Networking stocks rallied with the tech rebound as suppliers of AI data center gear drew buying: Ciena (CIEN) rose 4% to $347.48 and Arista Networks (ANET) climbed 4% to $183.32, well ahead of the iShares U.S. Technology ETF (IYW) at 1.29% and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) at 1.31%, while Cisco (CSCO) was practically unchanged at $107.06. Ciena's fiscal Q3 2026 adjusted EPS was $2.11 against a $1.73 consensus, with revenue up 37% year over year to $1.67 billion, and it raised fiscal 2026 revenue guidance to $6.42 billion. Its backlog reached $8.5 billion, but supply remains the limit, and management does not expect the market to return to balance before 2028. Two customers made up 41.7% of Q3 revenue, so Ciena's growth is concentrated. The next test is whether Ciena can hit its fiscal Q4 2026 revenue guidance of $1.75 billion under tight component supply.
- Gartner Predicts “80% of Neoclouds” Out of Business by 2030: Here’s Who Wins
Gartner forecast on October 14 that more than 80% of neoclouds will stop operating independently by 2030, and CoreWeave (CRWV) fell 25% last week. The article argues that hyperscalers funding AI capacity from their own cash flow, led by Amazon and Alphabet, are likely winners as credit tightens for indebted neoclouds. Amazon generated $140 billion of operating cash flow in fiscal 2025, more than covering $132 billion of capex, while CoreWeave's total debt reached $29.8 billion. Since their July 29 closing low, Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon are up 15.6%, compared with 1.6% for IREN, CoreWeave and Nebius. Hyperscaler earnings in the coming weeks will need to show whether sold-out capacity is turning into results.
Get the briefing on Telegram or Zalo
Join the Upside Telegram channel or Zalo group for the Vietnam stocks and gold briefing at 8:00 and 19:00 (Vietnam time) on trading days, plus a weekly wrap on Saturday morning.