Elon Musk has been so wrong about so many things for so long… But I want to focus on the Second Generation Tesla Roadster.
Tesla asked for serious money for the second-generation Roadster: about $50,000 for a regular reservation, and $250,000 upfront for the Founders Series. Just the Founders batch was capped at 1,000 people, so that alone is a lot of customer cash tied up, and Tesla has never really published a clear total for all reservations. By late 2025, several well-known cases said getting a refund was more painful than expected, with no easy one-click cancel, lots of follow-ups, and unclear timelines for when money would actually show up. So after years of waiting, some buyers ended up stuck not just with delays, but with a refund process that felt messy and unpredictable.
| Date | Quote | Source | What It Means |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-11-16 | “hardcore smackdown to gasoline cars” | CNBC (Roadster unveil): link | He was basically saying this wasn’t just another EV, it was meant to embarrass gas supercars. |
| 2017-11-16 | “This is the base model” | TechCrunch: link | Translation: even the wild specs from launch were supposed to be the starting point, not the ceiling. |
| 2018-06-09 | “SpaceX option package for new Tesla Roadster will include ~10 small rocket thrusters” | Electrek: link | This is where Roadster talk jumped from fast-car hype to rocket-assisted performance hype. |
| 2018-06-09 | “Maybe they will even allow a Tesla to fly …” | Electrek: link | He leaned into sci-fi mode here and kept the buzz alive by not drawing a clear line. |
| 2021-09-01 | “new Roadster should ship in 2023” | CNBC: link | Another reset: a fresh target date to reassure people the project was still happening. |
| 2023-05-16 | “this is not a commitment” / “hopefully start production next year” | TechCrunch: link | He gave people a timeline, then immediately softened it so it wouldn’t count as a hard promise. |
| 2024-02-28 | “Production design complete and unveil end of year, aiming to ship next year.” | Reuters via Yahoo: link | This sounded like the most concrete update in years: design done, unveil soon, deliveries next. |
| 2024-02-28 | “There will never be another car like this” | CNBC: link | He framed it as a one-off halo car, basically saying this thing is supposed to be in a class of its own. |
| 2025-07-13 | “Most epic demo ever by the end of the year. Ever.” | Electrek: link | Big promise, big hype, and another year-end milestone that people would watch closely. |
| 2025-10-31 (interview), reported 2025-11-01 | “I can’t do the unveil before the unveil.” | Yahoo Tech: link | He kept details vague and didn’t kill the flying-car speculation, which kept the suspense going. |
Na va-nad 
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