Tesla‘s Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen has reaffirmed over the weekend that the unveil and the demo for the highly anticipated new Roadster is on track to take place this year.
In the latest episode of the Tesla-focused podcast Ride the Lightning, published on Sunday, von Holzhausen has revealed that the company is “planning on this year” for the unveiling of the model.
The comments were made a few months after Tesla‘s VP of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy said that the model was under development.
During the interview, host Ryan McCaffrey questioned Franz von Holzhausen regarding the launch timeline for the Roadster, expressing concern that the model might face another delay.
“Like, is there kind of an official 18 to 24 month?,” McCaffrey added, “because you’re not going to show it again and then it’s going to sit, it’s just going to be another eight years.”
The Chief Designer guaranteed “that’s not going to happen,” with the company moving “more quickly into having a saleable product than we did last summer. “
According to von Holzhausen, the Roadster will be available “within two years.”
The first generation of the Roaster, Tesla‘s first production vehicle, was launched in 2008 and sold until 2012.
Five years later — and as the Roaster approached its ten-year anniversary — the company unveiled that a second generation would be launched.
Eight years later, the company has of yet to unveil the upcoming model.
“I think it comes to those who wait,” the Chief Designer noted, as McCaffrey noted that the company is approaching the twenty-year mark of the sports car.
While stating that different color options might be added with the model, von Holzhausen said he’s “excited to just showcase the new Roadster for a lot of different reasons and I think the wait will be worth it.”
Last month, replying to a video shared on X, Musk wrote that “the new Roadster is something special beyond a car.”
The comments follow several X posts made in February 2024, where the CEO wrote that the model “has a shot at being the most mind-blowing product demo of all time.”
“Tonight, we radically increased the design goals for the new Tesla Roadster. There will never be another car like this, if you could even call it a car,” he wrote.
Musk later added in a reply that the “production design [would be] complete and unveil[ed by] end of year, aiming to ship next year” — which did not happen.
By then, the chief executive also promised an acceleration performance of “0-60mph < 1 sec,” while adding “and that is the least interesting part.”
