Tesla unveiled its second generation Roadster in Los Angeles on Thursday.
Tesla unveiled its next generation Roadster on Thursday.
In a shock unveiling reminiscent of a Steve Jobs « One more thing… » surprise, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed that the car will be incredibly fast for a production vehicle.
The new Roadster clearly takes aim at high end sports cars.
« The point of doing this is to give a hardcore smackdown to gasoline cars, » Musk told a crowd in Los Angeles on Thursday.
He added that the Roadster « will be the fastest production car ever made, period, » he said.
The base model will be able to travel from 0-60 miles per hour in 1.9 seconds, which would be a record. It will go 0-100 miles per hour in 4 seconds. It will have a 200 kilowatt hour battery pack and will be able to drive 620 miles on a single charge, Musk said.
That is the longest range of any electric vehicle ever, he said.
« It will do the quarter mile in 8.9 seconds, » Musk said. « This will the first time that any production car has broken 9 seconds in the quarter mile. »
The car will seat four people. Customers can reserve a model with a $50,000 deposit. Those who want to buy one of the 1,000 Founders Series Roadsters will have to shell out $250,000 upfront.
The car is the second version of the original Roadster, Tesla’s first production car. The company made the Roadster from 2008 to 2012.
« People have asked us for a long time, ‘when are you going to make a new Roadster?' » Musk said. « We are making it now. »
The car is expected to be available in 2020.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
