It’s happening again!
The new Tesla Roadster has now been delayed until 2023, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed.
The company has also left the door open for further delays.
Tesla is blaming supply chain and parts shortages for the delay, with an emphasis on chip shortages.
“2021 has been the year of super crazy supply chain shortages, so it wouldn’t matter if we had 17 new products, as none would ship,” Musk said on Twitter.
“Assuming 2022 is not mega drama, new Roadster should ship in 2023.”
Originally set to debut in 2020, the Roadster program is now three years behind schedule.
The initial delay was confirmed in May 2020, with Musk announcing the Roadster wasn’t a priority for Tesla and COVID-19 had “thrown [Tesla] for a loop”.
He said it would be delayed until 2022 at the earliest.
Musk reiterated earlier this year the Roadster wouldn’t be launching until 2022, though he said engineering work would be completed this year.
According to Tesla’s website, Roadster reservations require an initial deposit of $5000 with a payment of $45,000 due in 10 days.
Customers can receive a full refund until they sign a purchase agreement for the vehicle.
These pre-orders for the vehicle have now been open since 2017.
The regular roadster is priced at US$200,000 (A$260,000), while the Founder’s Edition has a $250,000 (A$325,000) asking price.
Musk has also made it clear that the Cybertruck is still the priority over the Roadster, with no real deadline for delivery of this model either.
With a claimed range of around 1000km and a 200kWh battery, the Roadster still promises to make a huge leap ahead of its current lineup.
It will accelerate from 0 to 100hm/h in 1.9 seconds, do the quarter mile in 8.9 seconds and have a top speed of 400km/h.
Musk has also said that these figures first announced in 2017 are only the “base specs”.
A SpaceX version of the Roadster has been promised with cold-air thrusters to boost performance.
