Nearly a decade after it began taking deposits, Tesla is set to show the next-gen Roadster on Thursday. The livestream will originate from SpaceX's facility in McGregor, Texas, near Waco, with a scheduled start at 7:55 local time, or 8:55 ET.
FAA filings show Tesla put a no-fly zone in place around the SpaceX site for the event. The company previously scrapped a planned Oct. 1 demonstration because of weather. Executives are expected to share specifics on pricing, features and production plans. Tesla is set to release its third-quarter results on Wednesday after the market closes.
Deliveries of Tesla's first Roadster began in 2008; the vehicle sat atop a Lotus Elise chassis, with founding CEO Martin Eberhard overseeing the team. It sold in small quantities through 2012 at around $100,000.
The follow-up is expected to be a premium, low-volume car that leans on SpaceX technology to do headline-grabbing things like hovering. Fans have been drumming up excitement on social media heading into the reveal.
Musk first rolled out the refreshed Roadster concept in November 2017, then amplified it the next June on Twitter. At the time he wrote, "SpaceX option package for new Tesla Roadster will include ~10 small rocket thrusters arranged seamlessly around car." He said the setup would boost acceleration and braking, and might "even allow a Tesla to fly."
Tesla started accepting $50,000 deposits back in 2017 and has missed every delivery target since. As recently as last October, Musk talked up a Roadster demo he said he hoped to stage before the end of 2025, which didn't happen.
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Reservations reopened in recent weeks with $50,000 deposits now being taken from buyers in the U.S., Canada and China. Not everyone stuck it out. OpenAI co-founder and former Musk friend Sam Altman mocked the delays on X last year, posting screenshots of his reservation and refund requests.
"I really was excited for the car! And I understand delays," he wrote. "But 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait." He received his refund, and earlier this year the pair faced off in court in a separate case concerning OpenAI's governance and ownership structure.
Others stayed on the list. Lawrence O'Connor, founder and CEO of Other World Computing in Austin, Texas, told CNBC he put down a reservation for a Founder's Edition in November 2017, describing the $250,000 outlay as an "interest-free loan." He said he will be at Thursday's event and is "excited to see what has been 9 years in the making."
What does this mean for your money? The Roadster is unlikely to produce a material financial impact on the company. If you tune in, pay attention to what executives say about pricing, production targets and how much SpaceX tech makes it into the car. The specs will fuel buzz, but scale and timing are what really matter with a high-end, low-volume model.
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