Tesla's Roadster won't go into production until 2022

Since Tesla launched its sleek and wildly fast next-gen Roadster supercar EV back in 2017, we haven’t heard a ton about it. In a recent tweet, however, Elon Musk said that Roadster production isn’t set to start until next year (2022), confirming that it will be delayed by a good two years over the original date.

As Musk wrote, engineering only finished this year, as the “tri-motor drive system & advanced battery work were important precursors” to getting the design nailed down, apparently. Those will be key to the Roadster’s predicted acceleration of 0-60 MPH in 1.9 seconds, 250 MPH top speed and 600 mile range.

The Roadster price was $200,000 at launch, and folks who wanted to get one first were invited to put down $50,000 to make a reservation, or $250,000 for the “Founder’s Edition” model. Musk did say that Tesla is aiming to have a release candidate model hit the road this year, so hopefully we’ll get a look at the final model, performance and price sometime in 2021.

You won’t have to wait that long (or pay that much) to get similar performance, however, as Tesla’s updated 1,100 horsepower Model S Plaid+ edition will arrive late in 2021. At a price of $132,990, it will shoot from 0 to 60 MPH in under 2 seconds, hit a top speed of 200 MPH and go 520 miles on a charge — not bad for a four-door sedan.