Tesla unveiled a new Roadster on October 15, showing the car driving up an inverted ramp, flipping mid-air and landing on its wheels using cold-gas thrusters developed with SpaceX. Reservations are priced at $50,000 for the Performance and $250,000 for the Thrust, while the single-seat Rocket is invite-only, and Musk said production begins in 2028. Tesla's website states the flying version is not approved for public road use, and no FAA or road-safety approval has been reported. The article notes that certifying a new aircraft type with the FAA can take 5 to 9 years, and that hovering requires far more power than normal flight, which is why the demo showed jumps and a flip instead.
Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.
Original headline: Tesla Roadster Rocket Is the Cool 'Flying' Car You Can’t Have
Read the original on Decrypt ↗
Related news
- Watch Elon Musk debut flying Tesla Roadster with rocket thruster tech
A video from Tesla's Roadster event shows live stunt demonstrations and a stage presentation of a prototype using SpaceX cold-gas thrusters. Elon Musk explains that the vehicle uses an ultra-high-pressure air tank that the car can recharge itself, so it does not need special propellant to perform these maneuvers whenever needed.
- Watch Elon Musk debut flying Tesla Roadster with rocket thruster tech
The video captures live stunt demonstrations and a stage presentation at Tesla's (TSLA) Roadster event, where the prototype showed the cold-gas thrusters from SpaceX. Elon Musk explains that the car uses an advanced ultra-high-pressure air tank that recharges itself, so no special propellant is needed. He says the car can perform these maneuvers whenever the driver wants.
- Tesla Roadster flying car unveiled as Elon Musk declares 'the future is here'
Tesla unveiled its next-generation Roadster sports EV at a SpaceX testing facility in Texas, where a demonstration showed the car launching off a curved ramp, flipping and landing safely with no driver aboard. Elon Musk said 'flying cars are real' and confirmed production is slated for 2028, warning that success was not guaranteed. The two-seater is also said to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in under a second. Tesla has not announced updated pricing, after reservations originally listed a base model at $200,000 and a Founders Series at $250,000. Analysts expect a production version to cost substantially more, given delays, inflation and the addition of the SpaceX package.
- Tesla's flying Roadster is more fuel for SpaceX merger rumors than a real car
Tesla unveiled its Roadster EV with aerial stunts, but many analysts saw the event as a soft launch of a possible merger with SpaceX, with little detail on the car business. Musk has repeatedly hinted at combining the two companies, including on Tesla's latest earnings call and at the All-In Summit last month. Barclays analyst Dan Levy said a tie-up 'has increasingly become the consensus expectation,' while Gene Munster of Deepwater Management called the Roadster 'an engineering flex with no commercial value.' Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives put the chance of a Tesla and SpaceX merger by the end of 2027 at 80%.
- Elon Musk Touts Flying Car as Video of Tesla Roadster Takes Off Online
Elon Musk unveiled a Tesla Roadster capable of hovering above ground at a SpaceX facility in Texas, and a clip of the demonstration quickly gained 1.7 million views on X. Politicians, celebrities and Tesla fans, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, reacted to the footage. Tesla has not announced updated pricing; its original base Roadster price was $200,000, and production is expected to begin in 2028. The article notes that it remains unclear whether drivers could use the flying features on public roads, as federal regulators would likely scrutinise a vehicle capable of lifting off the ground.
- Tesla readies flying Roadster reveal in Texas to re-energize car business
Tesla is preparing to unveil its long-delayed Roadster sports car in Texas on Thursday, with a demonstration of a prototype fitted with technology designed to briefly lift the vehicle off the ground at a SpaceX rocket testing facility near Waco. The event comes after two consecutive years of annual sales declines, while car sales still generate the bulk of the company's revenue and operating profit, even as CEO Elon Musk focuses more on long-term AI and autonomous robotics. The article says a commercially available flying car is highly unlikely due to regulatory hurdles, safety concerns and high manufacturing costs, so the stunt mainly serves as a marketing push to draw attention back to its consumer lineup. The second-generation Roadster, first announced in 2017 and delayed for years, joins a narrow lineup that relies mainly on the Model 3 and Model Y; investors will watch whether the event can drive sustained consumer demand.
Related markets
Latest news
- J.P. Morgan Stays Top of Extel’s All-America Equities Research Table
Extel's 55th annual All-America Research Team survey ranks J.P. Morgan first in the research team table with 47 published positions, followed by BofA Securities with 44 and Morgan Stanley with 43. UBS posted the largest gain in positions, reaching 42 and climbing to fourth place. In the analyst leaders table, Jefferies takes first place with 43 positions, while UBS leads Extel's weighted ranking of research teams ahead of J.P. Morgan and Evercore ISI. The results reflect the views of 4,451 portfolio managers and analysts at 1,608 institutions across 60 sectors, with 129,919 votes counted. The number of participating institutions fell from 1,705 in 2025, but more firms now sit in the highest commission bands, rising to 89 from 82.
- Visa, Mesh partner to enable crypto spending at 175M merchant locations
Visa and crypto payments network Mesh have partnered so users can spend cryptocurrency and stablecoin balances directly from participating digital wallets at merchants on Visa's network, without transferring funds to a bank account or using a separate crypto card. Merchants receive payments through Visa's existing network without changing their checkout systems. The network covers more than 175 million merchant locations in over 200 countries and territories, and participating wallets and launch dates will be announced later. Mesh will handle funding and conversion between crypto, stablecoins and fiat, as well as onboarding and KYC requirements. The partnership follows Mesh's September integration with Bybit Pay and its $75 million raise in January at a $1 billion valuation.
- Mastercard Brings Its Fraud-Fighting Tools to Stablecoin Payments
Mastercard has launched Stablecoin Security, a tool that lets financial institutions screen stablecoin payments for fraud, scams and sanctions exposure and generate a risk score before a payment settles. Delivered through a platform-agnostic API, it combines Mastercard's payment intelligence with blockchain analytics and launches with Borderless.xyz and Keyrails as initial participants. The move addresses a blind spot flagged by a Bank for International Settlements study, which found nearly 60% of 593 million stablecoin transfers in 2025 were complex, multi-step transactions. The product extends Mastercard's broader stablecoin push, including its Global Money Platform with BVNK, and will launch first in North America, with worldwide availability expected in 2027.
- Better Oil Stock: Chevron (CVX) vs. ExxonMobil (XOM)
The article compares integrated oil majors Chevron (CVX) and ExxonMobil (XOM), whose stocks rose 45% and 58% respectively over the past 12 months as oil prices climbed. Chevron earns about 80% of its profit from upstream operations versus about 70% for ExxonMobil, which has a larger downstream and petrochemicals business. With Brent crude at $110 per barrel, well above breakeven prices of $50 for Chevron and $35 for ExxonMobil, the author argues Chevron's upstream focus suits oil spikes, while ExxonMobil's diversification helps when prices fall. Chevron offers a 3.2% forward yield versus 2.3%, and analysts expect its EPS to grow at a 26% CAGR from 2025 to 2028, compared with 20% for ExxonMobil. Both trade at 15 times next year's earnings, and the author prefers Chevron.
- This High-Yielding Dividend Stock Has Soared Past the "Magnificent Seven" in 2026
Target (TGT) shares are up 57% so far in 2026, outpacing the Magnificent Seven tech group, where Tesla is down 18% and Apple leads with a 26% gain as enthusiasm for AI cools. The stock is still down 39% over five years, with its last positive year in 2021, as consumers have pulled back on discretionary spending, but a new CEO and recent earnings progress have renewed investor interest. Growth in the most recent quarter, which ended Aug. 1, was 5.3%, with comparable growth of 3.6%, which the author sees as decent but not spectacular. Target trades at a P/E of 16 versus about 23 for the S&P 500 and 43 for Walmart, and its dividend yields 3% versus roughly 1% for the market, with 55 consecutive years of increases.
- Here's What a $5,000 Investment in AMD Could Be Worth by 2032
AMD shares have risen 147% in 2026 as of writing, well ahead of the 57% gain in the PHLX Semiconductor Sector index, driven by demand for its server CPUs and GPUs in AI data centers and by gains in the PC market. The data center segment made up 58% of Q2 revenue, rising 107% year over year to $6.7 billion. The company cites an AI data center accelerator market growing at a 45% CAGR through 2030, reaching $1.4 trillion in revenue, and says its server CPUs are used by hyperscalers including Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, and Google. Other catalysts include its Helios rack-scale systems, semi-custom processors for next-generation Sony and Microsoft consoles, and PC client CPU revenue up 23% to $3.1 billion, with market share estimated at 30.3% versus 23.9% a year earlier, while global PC shipments fell 4%.
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.