The new Tesla Roadster’s extremely sharp body lines and flat panels give it a striking resemblance to the Cybertruck. That angular, low-poly look breaks with conventional car design, but the comparison raises a bigger ownership question: will Tesla’s latest spectacle become a practical consumer product?
As demonstrated late Thursday evening, the Roadster can fly briefly using a “SpaceX package” of cold-gas thrusters, according to Futurism. Tesla showed the car flipping around on stage, rotating on its own axis mid-air and leaping over the company’s entire EV lineup. It also stuck to a vertical ramp, thanks to a fan system said to generate up to two Gs of downward force.
Those capabilities are far removed from anything a driver could use on a public road. Futurism’s criticism goes further: the stunts could be dangerous even on private property. Whether a Roadster will ever fly at highway speeds on public roads is still unclear.
The proposed lineup separates the stage spectacle from the other versions: a Performance variant without thrusters; a “Race Ready” mid-tier version with rear-mounted cold-gas thrusters; and the entirely non-road-legal, “invite only” model that can fly, as demonstrated on stage.
The Cybertruck connection isn’t just about sharp edges. Futurism describes the pickup as an automotive outlier, both when it arrived and today, mostly for the worse. Its criticism cites rusting stainless-steel body panels and poorly glued exterior panels, excessive curb weight that greatly reduced range, and a buggy steer-by-wire system. In that reading, the Cybertruck was a major departure from industry design norms, much like Tesla’s latest Roadster.
None of that establishes that the Roadster will inherit the Cybertruck’s problems. Futurism explicitly acknowledges that uncertainty. Its separate concern is that cold-gas thrusters are very likely to need additional upkeep, and a malfunction in a system capable of throwing a car high into the air could put its driver in severe danger.
Futurism links that risk to what it describes as Tesla’s history of treating customers as guinea pigs. Its verdict is that the Roadster, like the Cybertruck, is more a technology demonstration than an actual consumer-facing product. The publication argues that Cybertruck owners are still dealing with the consequences of that approach as their vehicles age.
Elon Musk admitted during Thursday’s event that the Roadster wasn’t going to be the next Honda Civic. He cautioned the audience that it wouldn’t “move the needle in a major way financially,” calling it a “small potato situation.” Tesla shares rose by less than two percent when markets opened afterward, a response Futurism interpreted as a sign that investors were unimpressed.
Tesla hadn’t released a Roadster price at the time of the report. Futurism nevertheless says it will undoubtedly cost a pretty penny, if buyers can get their hands on one, and calls it an even greater test of Tesla customer loyalty than the Cybertruck. Its ownership question is deliberately stark: will the car appreciate in value, as Musk has long promised about Tesla’s fleet, or become an expensive death trap after a short and likely terrifying stint of ownership? Neither outcome is established.
The publication also suggests another possible explanation for the spectacle: perhaps the Roadster is intended to make investors more receptive to a possible Tesla–SpaceX merger. That is speculation, not a confirmed purpose or transaction. Futurism describes the prospect as a high-stakes gamble that has unsettled investors, leaving a pointed question about the thruster-equipped sports car: is Tesla building a product around these capabilities, or making a case for bringing the two companies together?
