At least he hedged this time!
Elon Musk marked the 17th anniversary of the start of production of Tesla’s first model, the Roadster, on March 17 by confirming that the new Roadster will miss its scheduled reveal on April 1.
“New Roadster unveil probably in late April,” Musk posted to X. Musk announced the April 1 date last November, with a caveat.
“I have some deniability because, like, I could say I was just kidding. But we are actually tentatively aiming for April first for what I think will be the most exciting, whether it works or not, demo ever of any product,” he said.
Comments made during Tesla’s last earnings call in January added doubt that the target would be hit.
“I really think long-term, the only vehicles that we’ll make will be autonomous vehicles with the exception of the next generation Roadster which we’re hoping to debut in April,” Musk said during the call. Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja reiterated the point by adding, “hopefully.”
Musk is notorious for setting timelines for new Tesla products that turn out to be overly optimistic and missed.
Tesla hasn’t shown any updated Roadster designs since the prototype debuted in 2017, but a sketch included in a recent Trademark filing suggests it may have been significantly redesigned.
Along with being a ridiculously quick and fast all-electric vehicle, Musk has promised that it will be offered with an optional SpaceX thruster pack that will allow it to “fly” to some extent and that the demonstration will be “mind blowing” when it finally happens.
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