Tesla has put a date on the car it has been promising since 2017. In a post Electrek dates to Friday 11 September, the company published three words — "Go for launch" — over a teaser image of a red Roadster lit like a rocket on a pad, with 10.01 stamped across it. Invitations to reservation holders followed.
What the invitation actually says
The invite reads: "ROADSTER. October 1, 2026. Waco, Texas. Join us. Food and refreshments will be available." RSVPs close at midnight Pacific on Wednesday 16 September. Tickets are non-transferable, identification is checked at the door, nobody under 21 is admitted, and guests have to arrive and check in together. Not a Tesla App puts the start at 5:30 pm Pacific, which is 02:30 on 2 October in central Europe.
Waco is the detail worth noticing. SpaceX's rocket test site at McGregor sits roughly 30 km outside it, and that is where The Information said in August that the thruster demonstration would be flown with nobody in the car. Tesla has not said the two are the same venue.
The teaser hides the interesting part
Inverting the shadowed render on Tesla's Roadster page reveals an angular rear end, a large aerodynamic wing, and four plumes firing from the rear deck — the SpaceX-developed cold gas thrusters. Beyond the date itself, Tesla has confirmed no specification, no price and no availability.
What is confirmed, and what is not
| Item | Status |
|---|---|
| Reveal on 1 October 2026, Waco, Texas | Confirmed by Tesla |
| Invitations to early reservation holders | Confirmed |
| Cold gas thrusters | Teased in a render, not specified |
| Production start | Musk: 12 to 18 months after the reveal |
| Price, range, acceleration | Nothing confirmed since 2017 |
| European availability | Nothing said |
Nine years on, the numbers are still from 2017
The figures in circulation come from the November 2017 unveiling: 200,000 dollars base, 620 miles of range — close to 1,000 km — 0 to 60 mph in under two seconds, and a top speed above 250 mph. Reservations opened at 50,000 dollars for the standard car and 250,000 dollars for the Founders Series. Nobody has taken delivery, and Sam Altman, who paid the deposit, said publicly last November that "7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait".
Those numbers may not survive the reveal. The Information has reported that the 2017 design was abandoned in favour of a new one, which would make the old specification a historical artefact rather than a preview.
A reveal is also not a production date. Musk has said the car would not enter production until 12 to 18 months after it is shown, and at last November's shareholder meeting he put that in "2027 or 2028".
What a European buyer should take from this
Honestly, very little yet. The event is a United States, invite-only affair for reservation holders, and Tesla has said nothing about Europe. A European Roadster needs EU type approval on its own merits, right-hand-drive markets add a further step, and a thruster package raises questions that no type-approval framework currently answers.
What 1 October ends is the guessing about the car. It does not end the guessing about when one can be bought, or whether the version that lifts off the ground is a product at all rather than a demonstration.
Update: 2026-09-20
On 19 September 2026 an FAA temporary flight restriction went into effect over the airspace around the reveal site. NOTAM FDC 6/3825 closes a 1.5 nautical mile radius around the Waco VORTAC from the surface to 10,000 feet — roughly 3 km — running from 18 September until 1200 UTC on 2 October, issued under the hazard provision at 14 CFR 91.137(a)(3). The controlling agency is Fort Worth Air Route Traffic Control Center, and the notice states that no pilots may operate an aircraft in the area it covers. Neither Tesla nor SpaceX has commented. The restriction is not confirmation of a flight demonstration — a 10,000-foot ceiling is a safety envelope rather than a target altitude — but it does close the airspace over the venue for the day of the reveal, and it is the first official document to tie the event to restricted airspace at all. Source: SpaceX Restricts Airspace Over McGregor Facility Ahead of Tesla Roadster Event.
Update: 2026-09-26
On 25 September 2026 Tesla closed its Semi rollout presentation in Nevada with an unannounced Roadster teaser — cargo trailer doors parting onto a glowing horizontal light bar — and posted “See you next week” on X. The clip shows the front of the car for the first time: a continuous, blade-like LED bar running the full width of the hood, in place of the curved projector headlamps of the 2017 concept, along with sharper geometric creases drawn from Tesla’s Cyber design language. That fills in the half of the car the inverted render on Tesla’s Roadster page did not show, and it puts the production design further from the 2017 show car than the rear-end teasers alone implied. The 1 October reveal in Waco is unchanged. Source: Tesla Teases Roadster at Semi Event, Hints at Design Changes.
Update: 2026-09-28
On 28 September 2026 Tesla warned guests invited to the 1 October reveal that the event could slip again, this time because of the weather. In an email to invitees Tesla said the event "must be held outdoors" and may need to be rescheduled. The forecast for central Texas on Thursday carries an 82% chance of rain with thunderstorms. Nothing has been cancelled and the Waco date still stands, but this is the first time Tesla has put a rescheduling in writing, and it applies to an event whose airspace has already been closed by an FAA restriction running to 2 October. Sources: Tesla warns weather could delay Roadster demo, and the forecast is ugly.
Update: 2026-09-28
On 28 September 2026 Tesla rescheduled the reveal to 15 October, two weeks later than planned. The warning recorded in the previous update became a decision the same day: Tesla told invitees it had been "tracking the weather closely with local meteorologists, but given the severe conditions predicted & because this event can only be held outdoors", it would move the date. Central Texas faced thunderstorms and possible flash flooding on 1 October. The 1 October date in the table above no longer applies. Two things follow. The FAA restriction over the Waco VORTAC expires at 1200 UTC on 2 October and does not cover the new date, so a fresh notice would be needed to close that airspace again. And Tesla's stated reason — that the event can only be held outdoors — is the firmest indication yet that something is meant to leave the ground. Sources: Tesla delays Roadster demo two weeks to October 15, blames weather, Tesla reschedules Roadster reveal to October 15 due to bad weather.
Update: 2026-10-03
On 30 September 2026 Elon Musk narrowed Tesla's stated reason, writing that “Due to high winds, the new Roadster demo is postponed by 2 weeks”. That is more specific than the “can only be held outdoors” wording recorded above, and it cuts against the inference drawn there rather than confirming it. Teslarati argued on 1 October that wind would compromise a ground demonstration just as readily: a crosswind unsettles a car during a top-speed run and forces steering corrections, a head or tailwind distorts the measured number, and at launch a crosswind induces yaw before aerodynamic downforce builds, with wind-driven debris or standing water cutting grip. Neither reading is confirmed, and Tesla has not elaborated on which demonstration the wind would have spoiled. Sources: Elon Musk weather update tips Tesla Roadster speculation into Plaid Mode.
Update: 2026-10-05
The reveal did not happen on 1 October. On 28 September 2026 Tesla moved the event to 15 October 2026, same venue, citing "severe conditions predicted & because this event can only be held outdoors" — Waco's forecast carried thunderstorms, heavy rain and strong winds. The outdoor-only requirement is itself informative: it fits a thruster demonstration rather than a static unveiling, which is the reading the venue already suggested. The date in the table above is superseded. A teaser published the same week also shows a continuous rear light bar that the 2017 prototype did not have — the first visual confirmation that the design has moved on from the specification quoted below. Sources: Tesla delays Roadster demo two weeks to October 15, blames weather, Tesla postpones Roadster unveiling due to weather.
Update: 2026-10-14
On 12 October 2026 Tesla's official X account posted the start time: the Roadster event will stream live on X on Thursday 15 October at 7:55 pm Central, which is 00:55 UTC on Friday 16 October and 02:55 Central European Summer Time. Electrek and Teslarati carry Tesla's 7:55 pm figure; Not a Tesla App lists 8:00 pm Central and 9:00 pm Eastern, and notes that X is the only platform Tesla has confirmed, with YouTube and tesla.com not yet announced. The event itself stays invitation-only, limited to Roadster reservation holders aged 21 and over, at the Waco venue recorded above. Tesla has confirmed nothing further about what will be demonstrated.