Tesla has postponed the long-promised reveal of its second-generation Roadster, moving the event from October 1 to October 15 in Waco, Texas, because of a forecast of severe weather.
"We've been tracking the weather closely with local meteorologists, but given the severe conditions predicted & because this event can only be held outdoors, we've made the difficult decision to reschedule," the company said in a post on X.
The outdoor requirement is not a venue quirk. Tesla has been working to integrate cold-gas thrusters from SpaceX into the car, intended to let the Roadster "fly" in some capacity — something that is hard to demonstrate under a roof.
The delay is the latest in a long pattern. Tesla showed a concept of the car in 2017, alongside the Semi, and promised it was a few years away. It collected $50,000 deposits on a vehicle with an estimated base price around $200,000, and $250,000 apiece for 1,000 "Founders Series" cars. The project then sat for years before Musk reportedly ordered a redesign and committed to the SpaceX thruster idea. At one point he floated an April Fools' Day reveal, saying it would give him "some deniability" if it slipped again. "Like, I could say I was just kidding," he said.
The wait has become its own meme: OpenAI's Sam Altman posted that "7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait" for his own reservation, and Musk said Altman had been refunded.
Even a successful October 15 event would not put cars in driveways. Musk has said production is at least a year away after the reveal, leaving the Roadster as the clearest case study in how far Tesla's product announcements have drifted from its shipping calendar.
