Tesla shares jumped in premarket trading on Friday after the unveiling of its second-generation Roadster, which drew a sharply split reaction as stunt clips spread to millions of viewers while skeptics questioned its claims and its 2028 target to begin production.
The stock was trading 5.20% higher in Friday’s premarket session at $381.40, after closing lower on Thursday at $362.44.
The car’s flips, inverted driving and jump over a lineup of Tesla vehicles at SpaceX’s test site in McGregor, Texas, dominated social media through Thursday night.
Elon Musk’s post of the flight clip, “Turns out the future does have flying cars,” had drawn nearly half a million likes and over 19 million views after seven hours.
Among the most-liked comments on X, YouTube, and Weibo, awe and jokes far outnumbered criticism, though the skeptical posts that broke through reached some of the largest audiences of the night.
Wall Street Weighs In
JPMorgan analyst Rajat Gupta reiterated a ‘Neutral’ rating and $415 price target on Tesla following the event, according to his note obtained by Price Target, an archive that tracks Wall Street analyst price targets, upgrades, downgrades and stock ratings.
Gupta noted that production is targeted for 2028, against the original 2020 delivery target set when the car was first shown in 2017, and that Tesla “did not disclose final pricing.”
“Management also indicated that the Roadster would eventually become TSLA’s only manually driven vehicle as the broader portfolio transitions toward full autonomy,” he wrote.
Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management called the event “an engineering flex with no commercial value beyond embarrassing traditional car makers,” adding that Musk “can’t wait to bring $TSLA and $SPCX together.”
Dan Ives, Partner and Senior Managing Director at Yorkville, took the opposite view, writing that the propulsion, pressure-vessel and control hardware on a Tesla product “strengthens the case operating as one engineering platform over time.”
Hours before the stream, The Future Fund’s Gary Black had predicted “Disappointment because of over hype and overpromised benefits.”
The premarket rise in Tesla shares suggested investors took a different view.
SpaceX shares were up about 2.4% at $152.14 in premarket trading.
‘This Is a Prank, Right?’
The most-liked skeptical post came from tech reviewer Marques Brownlee.
“They really just got on stage and said this newly designed 4000+ pound car can do flips and go half the speed of sound (380+mph) and will ship in 2028. This is a prank, right?” Brownlee wrote on X shortly after the livestream ended.
The post had collected more than 79,000 likes and 4 million views as of publication time.
When one user replied, “Bro why can’t you just be happy,” Brownlee answered, “You don’t have even the tiniest bit of skepticism? Realism? 😅 I love tech and the future is going to be fun, but imagine if Hyundai or Audi or any other company pulled this stunt.”
Brownlee also wrote that he did not think “there’s a street tire invented yet that can do anywhere near” half the speed of sound.
Converts and Celebrities
Others said the demonstration exceeded their expectations.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, writing on his personal account, called it a “cool way to introduce Roadster to the world.”
“Hard to think of a wilder product unveiling. Not sure how quickly drivers are going to be leaping over each other in traffic,” he added.
Keen Technologies founder John Carmack, the co-creator of Doom, wrote, “That demo involved a non trivial chance of embarrassing failure! 🫡 I’m only going for the baseline model. At this point in my life, rocket bunny hops are out of my comfort zone.”
Musk replied, “True 😂.”
Tesla owner and shareholder Sawyer Merritt, writing after leaving the venue, said that “The hype going into this event was sky-high, yet Tesla somehow managed to exceed expectations,” calling it “the most insane product demo I’ve ever seen.”
Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai replied to Musk’s flight post, “The FSD version of this will be something:) congrats!”
China Takes Notice
The Roadster also spread quickly on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, where eight related topics appeared on the real-time hot search list on Friday afternoon, Beijing time, led by “Tesla sports car can reach 370 kilometers per hour” and “Tesla Roadster really can fly.”
Another trending topic, “the gap between Chinese cars and Tesla,” drew a post from race driver and auto blogger Chen Zhen, who has more than 10 million followers.
“On one side, the fridge, color TV, big sofa and driver assistance I use every day, on the other, America’s unbeatable FSD and a Roadster that can fly all over the sky at its launch event, that’s roughly how it is, right?” Chen wrote.
Top comments under a widely shared launch video took the same line, with one calling Tesla “the stern father of domestic electric cars, far, far ahead,” borrowing a slogan associated with Huawei.
Tesla’s Chinese website opened reservations only for the road-going Performance version, with a refundable payment of 332,000 yuan ($49,500), and warns that availability depends on the laws in force at the time.
What Fell Short
The disappointment centered on the gap between the 2017 promise and the 2026 vehicle.
Tesla now quotes range of more than 300 miles, against 620 miles in 2017, and the car seats two at most, against four.
It gave no price for any version, and production will not begin until 2028, more than a decade after the first prototype was shown.
The thruster stunts are limited to the Thrust and Rocket versions, and the flying Rocket is invite-only and “Not approved for public road use,” according to Tesla’s website.
The unveiling followed months of escalating promises from Musk, who called it a “candidate for greatest product demo of all time” the night before.
