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Tesla’s new Roadster is a jumping piece of vaporware

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Tesla’s new Roadster is a jumping piece of vaporware

The new Tesla Roadster finally showed up on Thursday night in a cloud of compressed air at SpaceX’s rocket test site in McGregor, Texas. It was the perfect example of Elon Musk’s personal brand: the epic announcement full of grandiose promises, the magic act that keeps the audience staring at the smoke while the real trouble happens backstage (see his delayed Optimus, the delayed Cybercab, and Tesla’s lack of true autonomous driving).

The Roadster showed off its ability to do absolutely useless stuff that no car has ever done before. It raced upside down, clinging to a giant inverted ramp like a Hot Wheels car. It jumped over a Model 3, a Model Y, a Cybertruck, a Tesla Semi, and a Cybercab. The Roadster Fast & Furious’d its way through a stunt course, flipping in midair and floating down on air thrusters to land back on solid ground, momentarily hiding the car in a puff of gas.

What it didn’t do was give us a price or a date anyone should believe. Musk’s latest toy is the most literal case of vaporware in tech history: a product you can’t buy, propelled by actual vapor.

Consider what was promised in 2017, when Musk surprised everyone at the Semi truck event with a red Roadster that looked nothing like this new one. 9 seconds, go 620 miles on a charge, seat four in a 2+2 layout, cost $200,000, and reach customers in 2020. Fans put down $50,000 to get in line, or $250,000 to claim one of the 1,000 Founders Series cars.


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