The second-generation Tesla Roadster has been all over the Milky Way but has yet to land in dealerships on this planet.
When the all-new Tesla Roadster was first unveiled in November 2017, it came with the promise of a market launch in 2020. Later on, Musk said Roadster sales would start after the release of a revised Model S sedan, widely expected at the end of 2020.
However, people who paid reservation fees should arm themselves with more patience as the new Roadster will not happen this year and probably not next year either. In a two-hour podcast interview with Joe Rogan released on Thursday and brought to our attention by Reuters, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the planned Roadster sports car would be delayed to allow the company to bring more important models to market first.
See Also: Tesla Says Production Roadster Will Be Better In Every Way Than The Prototype
When Rogan asked when he could buy a Roadster, Musk replied he could not provide a date, adding that the ramp-up in production of Model Y SUVs and the construction of an assembly plant in Berlin were priorities.
“Roadster is kind of like dessert. We gotta get the meat and potatoes and greens and stuff,” Musk said. So does that mean that after those two things are done, Tesla will focus on the Roadster launch? Umm, not really. The CEO added that Tesla should also build the Cybertruck before working on the Roadster.
Taking into account that the Cybertruck is scheduled to be released in late 2021, this probably means the Tesla Roadster won’t arrive sooner than 2022.
When Tesla announced the battery-powered four-seat Roadster at the end of 2017, it said the sports car would be faster than any street-legal production car. The quoted 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) time of 1.9 seconds, quarter mile time of 8.9 seconds, and 250 mph (402 km/h) top speed would certainly give it bragging rights, but who’s to say these numbers will still be good enough in 2022 or later?
In the Joe Rogan Experience interview you can watch in its entirety after the jump, Musk again lashed out at stay-at-home orders imposed by the U.S. states to curb the spread of the coronavirus. He labeled lockdown orders as “unconstitutional” and said they would not hold up before the U.S. Supreme Court if challenged.
Most of the interview focuses on artificial intelligence and Musk’s Neuralink company, which develops implantable brain-machine interfaces. This was Musk’s second appearance on Rogan’s podcast after the September 2018 interview in which the Tesla CEO famously smoked a marijuana joint with the host.