During a press conference announcing Tesla’s new semi-truck, Elon Musk surprised the world with the announcement of the new Tesla Roadster.
Unlike the original, which was build on the chassis of a Lotus Elise, the Tesla Roadster has been designed all in-house. Interior designs look clean and spartan, but hopefully won’t feel spartan. The styling has the right amount of curves to angles ratios, and (if videos from the launch are accurate) it’s lightning quick.
Quick as in 1.9 seconds to get from zero to sixty (as if Ludicrous Mode wasn’t enough…). It boasts a 620-mile range through an all-wheel drive system and a top speed of 250 mph, though not in the same charge.
At $200,000, the Tesla Roadster is a far cry from it’s entry price during the Lotus days. Especially when entry reservations are $50k. For this kind of money, it competes with the likes of Mercedes AMG, McLaren, and other high-end buyers.
While the designs for the outside and inside (and powertrain) are delightful, there are some questions that beg to be asked.
What’s in a definition, anyways?
Manufacturers of any flavor have no problem blurring the lines of previously defined styles. Mazda did it with the fastback (it’s not a fastback), BMW has done it with the Grand Coupe (it’s a 4-door sport sedan…), and Tesla is doing it with the Roadster.
The original Roadster was indeed a roadster. Most define a roadster as a 2-seater convertible.
Tesla’s Roadster is booked as a 4-seater, though we’re not too sure whether those with legs are able to be rear-seat passengers. Like many coupe’s, the back seat is more of a suggestion whereas package/purse/bag rack is more realistic. The new Roadster is also a targa top, not a convertible.
Should we hold manufacturers to previously defined nomenclature? Well, we could try, but we’d be wasting a lot of breath. They’ve paid the research and development costs, so we suppose they can call it whatever they please. And we’re ok with that. Language changes.
Will it be on time?
Tesla says it will be out in 2020, but they’ve fudged their timelines before, so we won’t hold our breath.
Tesla is rather known for late production timeframes. Earlier in Nov 2017, Musk announced that the Model 3 is behind on production due to bottlenecks in production.
Musk said they’re shifting production for the Model 3 release, while decreasing Model S and Model X production in the short term to meet Model 3 demand.
(More below photo.)
Questions aside, if the final production cars ends up being anything like the unveiled model, we’re seriously intrigued in seeing this come to roads (and race tracks?) around 2020.
To check out more information about the Tesla Roadster, please visit Tesla’s Roadster page.
