Everything about the forthcoming Tesla Roadster is utterly delusional

When it was first revealed all the way back in 2017, the Tesla Roadster 2.0 prototype seemed completely ridiculous. A four-seater convertible that could go from 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) in 1.9 seconds with a 200-kWh battery in tow? The Tesla team must have chanced upon a particularly potent strain to smoke.At the time, CEO Elon Musk described it as "the fastest car production car ever made. Period."To put things in perspective, that's almost up there with the US$2.1-million Rimac Nevera, whose 1,914 horses and 1,726 lb.ft (2,340 Nm) of torque accelerate it from 0-60 mph in 1.81 seconds. So Tesla was claiming to get awfully close to that, match its top speed of about 256 mph (412 km/h), and deliver 621 miles (1,000 km) of range for a tenth of the price.The company also promised to begin deliveries in 2020, which came and went with nary a Roadster in sight. Roadster Cut to today, and we have compelling news: the Roadster will be shown off on October 1, per a tweet from Tesla and a web page counting down to that date. And as it turns out, a report from The Information published last month says the company isn't just revealing a production model of a very fast car, but also one that can fly.That's simply absurd for so many reasons, especially when you consider which automaker – and who it's run by – we're talking about.Elon Musk has famously made numerous false promises with wildly ambitious timelines over the years. But the word from The Information reporter Grace Kay's sources, as well as the illustration on the Tesla page, about the car being able to fly is the nuttiest thing I've heard from Musk & Co thus far. Tesla Semi & Roadster Unveil Following the unveiling of the already impressive prototype in 2017, the storied CEO is said to have given Tesla engineers a directive that the car had to be able to fly, delaying its production by years.A small team had been working on this vehicle, separate from the larger crews producing Tesla's other popular electric cars. At some point in 2024, it began collaborating with SpaceX to figure out how to make this machine get into the air.The solution: cold gas thrusters. This refers to a propulsion system used in rockets to move spacecrafts by releasing highly pressurized gas through a nozzle.We don't know how this will be implemented or what sort of flight time you can expect from the Roadster. Our only recent point of reference for a 'flying' car is the BYD Yangwang U9 which managed a 20-ft leap over spikes last year, enabled by a wicked active suspension system.Meanwhile, according to Kay, there were plans to run a stunt demo of the Tesla Roadster's capabilities without a driver behind the wheel at SpaceX's testing facility in McGregor, Texas.The idea was have the vehicle blast down a roller coaster-like track until it was was actually upside down, and then hover in mid-air to show off its ability to fly. That's no longer on the cards, but I appreciate the attention to entertainment value here.Musk supposedly had other wild ideas for the car too. Ahead of the 2017 demo, he told engineers to build it so every body panel would adjust independently to maximize aerodynamics.He also wasn't the only one making things difficult for the Roadster team. Some time after the notion of a flying car came up, design chief Franz von Holzhausen suggested modeling the exterior after the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird spy plane. It's said to have since been transformed into something a lot more conservative like a sports car. I mean, it's a cool plane to draw design inspiration from (SR-71 Blackbird)USAF / Judson Brohmer To that end, Kay also noted that the Roadster's been through numerous exterior design changes, so the vehicle we'll see next month will look different from the prototype we saw in 2017. Its actual rollout timeline is still uncertain.For what it's worth, a Roadster did indeed once fly. In February 2018, Musk's own cherry red 2008 Roadster was strapped to SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket for its maiden flight.The car served as a test payload on the rocket's second stage, with a mannequin in a spacesuit in the driver's seat. It's now in a heliocentric orbit – meaning it orbits the Sun – crossing between the orbits of Earth and Mars.In any case, I hope you're not harboring any real hopes for a flying Roadster in the near future. If it does take to the skies or do anything resembling that, the Roadster won't be street-legal. It'll also cost you way more than the original $200,000 asking price quoted in 2017. Tesla's Roadster looked the part of a track weapon back in 2017 – but the latest iteration will reportedly have a different designTesla Tesla will either disappoint millions of fans, or finally be vindicated a little over two weeks from now. Either way, I can't wait to see what the company has in store for us.Source: Tesla (X)