Elon Musk says Tesla made a new Roadster to be a 'hardcore smackdown to gas-powered cars'
- Elon Musk called the new Roadster a "hardcore smackdown to gas-powered cars."
- Tesla finally has a proper supercar.
- Serious fans of the company have been begging for a new Roadster for years.
HAWTHORNE, California - It takes a lot to upstage not one, but two, all-electric semi-trucks. But on Thursday night, Tesla did just that, fulfilling the dreams of every red-blooded fan of the company.
Through the pulsing strains of the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage," the long-awaited new Roadster was unveiled. Or, rather rolled out of the back of a matte-black semi-trailer, then piloted into a pair of 0-60 mph speed runs by Tesla design chief Franz von Holzhausen.
CEO Elon Musk then detailed the sleek, red four-seater's mad stats, including the sprint to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds and a top-speed north of 250 mph, while the crowd went berserk.
Musk called it a "hardcore smackdown to gas-powered cars." He said it would make petrol-burners look like "steam engines with a side of quiche."
That it is. The Model S P100D in Ludicrous Mode can already outrun the world's fastest supercars. The new Roadster will leave them in its warp-speed wake, instantly becoming the fastest car on the planet.
The original Roadster was Tesla's first car, and it redefined what electric cars could be: no dowdy, glorified golf carts - sexy, high-speed dream machines.
The original Roadster is out of production, but serious Tesla lovers have been clamoring for a new one. Tesla has teased, now the teasing has ended. The new car arrives in 2020.
I speculated that Tesla might roll something special out of the back of one of its semi-trailers on Thursday - but I was half-kidding. To get a new Roadster was mind-blowing, especially given that the original Roadster was my introduction to the company and its mission, and it's still my favorite Tesla.
The Tesla Semi event already went to 11 on the hype meter. I'm not even sure I can estimate the volume that a new Roadster brought to the party. It was louder than loud. And shot across the bow of every supercar and hypercar brand in the world.