Tesla pulled back the curtain on its long-delayed Roadster this week, and the reveal turned into less of a spec-sheet unveiling and more of a stunt show. Over the course of a single demonstration, the car climbed a curved ramp, hung upside down using fans mounted under its body, launched into the air, spun using SpaceX-derived cold-gas thrusters, landed on its wheels, then jumped over a line of other Tesla vehicles while twisting through a midair move Elon Musk called the “kickflip.” A separate acceleration run put the car at 0-60 mph in 0.81 seconds. Outlets including Mashable, The Detroit News, Engadget, Car and Driver, and Digital Trends all covered the event, and the footage has been circulating widely since. This piece walks through every trick Tesla showed, the hardware behind each one, what Tesla’s own engineers said about how it works, and what still isn’t confirmed.
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Tesla’s Roadster Reveal Puts Four Stunts on Display
The Roadster demonstration Tesla staged this week broke down into four distinct tricks, each building on the last. The car first drove up a curved ramp and held itself upside down using suction generated by underside fans. From that inverted position, it launched off the structure, rotated using thrusters, and landed upright. In a separate pass, it jumped a line of parked Tesla vehicles, including a Model 3, Model Y, Cybercab, Cybertruck, and Semi, while performing the horizontal spin Musk dubbed the kickflip. A fourth segment showed a straight-line acceleration run. Tesla described the car on stage as a prototype, or production-intent vehicle, not a finished production specification, and said full production would begin in 2028.
None of the four moves happened in isolation. The suction system that let the car cling to the ramp while inverted is the same hardware Tesla says enables grip during the kickflip, and the thrusters that rotated the car out of its upside-down launch are the same units used for the airborne twist over the vehicle lineup. That overlap is worth keeping in mind, because it means Tesla is pitching one integrated system, not four separate gadgets bolted onto a sports car.
Trick One: Climbing a Ramp and Hanging Upside Down
The first trick set the tone for everything that followed. The Roadster drove up a curved ramp, reached the top, and stayed stuck to the underside of the structure, upside down, without falling. The car held the inverted position while stationary, which ruled out any claim that this was purely a matter of speed or momentum carrying it through a loop. Instead, Tesla attributed the hold to a fan-driven suction system mounted to the underside of the vehicle, pulling the car against the surface above it. It’s the kind of trick that would look impossible on paper, which is exactly why Tesla built the demo around it before showing anything else. A closer look at the ramp structure itself, including the nozzle hardware used for the landing, is available in this site’s breakdown of the flip test rig.
Trick Two: The Airborne Launch, Rotation, and Landing
From the upside-down hold, the car launched off the ramp into the air. Mid-flight, it used thrusters to rotate itself out of the inverted orientation and came down landing on its wheels. This is the segment that most directly borrowed from SpaceX, since the thrusters used for the rotation are described by Tesla as the same cold-gas thruster technology that powers attitude control on SpaceX spacecraft. The sequence, drive up, hang inverted, launch, rotate, land, is the backbone of the whole demonstration, and it’s the part that most clearly separates this Roadster reveal from any previous Tesla product unveiling.
Trick Three: The Kickflip Over Tesla’s Own Lineup
The most visually striking trick came next. The Roadster jumped over a lineup of other Tesla vehicles, the Model 3, Model Y, Cybercab, Cybertruck, and Semi parked side by side, and performed a midair horizontal spin while clearing them. Musk referred to the move as the kickflip, a nod to skateboarding terminology that stuck immediately with viewers and outlets covering the event. Unlike a simple jump, the horizontal spin required the same thruster-based attitude control used in the earlier upside-down launch, which is why Tesla treated the two tricks as connected demonstrations of one underlying system rather than separate party tricks.
Trick Four: The 0-60 Acceleration Run
The final piece of the demonstration returned to more familiar territory for a Tesla unveiling: a straight-line acceleration run. The car reached 0-60 mph in a demonstrated 0.81 seconds during the event. That figure is notably quicker than the 1.9-second 0-60 time Tesla originally promised for the Roadster back in 2017, though Tesla has not confirmed that 0.81 seconds is the final production specification rather than a one-off demonstration result. The 2017 figures of a 1.9-second 0-60 time, a 250 mph top speed, and 620 miles of range remain unconfirmed as specs for the vehicle shown this week. For a closer look at how that acceleration figure compares to other claimed Roadster trims, see this site’s coverage of the rumored Rocket trim.
The Four Tricks at a Glance
| Trick | What Happened | Hardware Involved | Confirmation Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upside-down hold | Drove up a curved ramp and stayed inverted while stationary | Underside suction fans | Demonstrated on stage |
| Launch, rotate, land | Launched off the ramp, rotated in midair, landed on its wheels | 10 SpaceX cold-gas thrusters | Demonstrated on stage |
| The kickflip | Jumped a lineup of Tesla vehicles while performing a horizontal spin | Suction fans plus thrusters | Demonstrated on stage |
| 0-60 run | Straight-line acceleration test | Powertrain (specs not detailed) | Demonstrated, 0.81 seconds cited |
Inside the Suction Fan System
The suction system is the piece of hardware doing the most work across three of the four tricks. Tesla has not published a full technical breakdown, but the company has said the system uses fans mounted under the car to create the downward pull needed to hold the vehicle against a surface, whether that’s gripping a ramp while upside down or adding stability during the kickflip. Musk described the effect bluntly, saying “this car really sucks,” referring directly to the suction system doing exactly what its name implies. In a more colorful aside captured during the event, he added that the system “could suck the chrome off a trailer hitch” and “could suck a tennis ball through a hose pipe,” a pair of lines that have already been widely quoted across coverage of the reveal, as reported by CNET.
Tesla Vice President of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy offered the most detailed public explanation of how the system functions. “It can suck the car down at low speed to give us traction when we need it. And at high speed, we’ll open up the front and rear parts of the suction system to create even more flow underneath the car,” Moravy said, as quoted by The Independent. He also connected the suction hardware directly to the inverted stunt, explaining that “we have a fan suction system on the bottom of the car that can pull up to two Gs in order to make the car go upside down. And then we borrowed some technology from SpaceX to do the rest.” Suction-assisted grip is not an entirely new idea in motorsport, either; this site has previously traced the concept back through decades of racing history in a piece on the suction system’s ties to a 1978 Formula 1 ban.
SpaceX’s Cold-Gas Thrusters, Explained
Where the suction fans handle grip, the thrusters handle rotation. Tesla says the Roadster uses 10 SpaceX cold-gas thrusters for the aerial attitude control seen in both the upside-down launch and the kickflip. Cold-gas thrusters are a propulsion method SpaceX uses on its own vehicles to make fine adjustments to orientation without combustion, which fits the kind of precise, short-burst rotation the Roadster needed to flip itself right-side up mid-flight and spin horizontally over the parked vehicle lineup. Beyond the thruster count, Tesla has not detailed the full specification of the propulsion system, and how closely it mirrors hardware SpaceX flies on its own spacecraft remains a question Tesla has left largely unanswered in public remarks so far. This site has previously estimated the thrust figures behind that system in a separate explainer on the Roadster’s flight-tech specs.
What Musk and Tesla’s Engineering Team Said
Musk framed the entire project as a joint effort between the two companies he leads. “This is the culmination of incredible work by Tesla and SpaceX engineers working closely together to make something that you haven’t seen in any movie,” Musk said, according to USA Today. He later told the crowd the Roadster was not just a demonstration prototype but a product headed for public roads, saying “this will be an actual car that’s on the roads,” as reported by paultan.org. That statement is the closest Tesla has come to publicly committing to selling a production version of the car shown this week, even as the company continues to describe the demonstrated vehicle as prototype or production-intent rather than final.
- Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, on the suction system’s power
- Lars Moravy, Tesla Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, on the two-mode fan system
- Moravy again, on how suction enables the inverted hold
- Musk, on the collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX engineering teams
- Musk, on the car’s intended path to public roads
Market and Investor Reaction
Stunt reveals make for great footage, but they also raise a familiar question for Tesla watchers: does any of this move the stock, or the order book? Tesla has not released pricing or a reservation structure tied to the specific vehicle shown this week, and the company’s own framing, prototype or production-intent, leaves room for the final consumer product to differ from what rolled across the stage. That gap between demonstration and delivery has shaped investor reaction before, and it’s likely to shape it again here, particularly with production not slated to begin until 2028. Readers tracking the stock-side story in more detail can find a dedicated breakdown in this site’s coverage of how shares moved in the session following the reveal, as well as a separate look at reported deposit pricing circulating since the event.
Historical Context: Eight Years of Roadster Delays
This week’s reveal lands nearly a decade after Tesla first promised the Roadster in 2017, when the company talked up a 1.9-second 0-60 time, a 250 mph top speed, and 620 miles of range. None of those three figures have been confirmed as final specifications for the car demonstrated this week. What has changed is the pitch itself. The original 2017 promise was a conventional, if extreme, performance car. The version shown this week leans into something stranger: a car that drives up walls, flips, and launches into the air using rocket-derived hardware. Whether that shift in emphasis reflects a genuine change in what the production car will do, or simply a more attention-grabbing way to keep the long-delayed project in headlines, is something only the 2028 production timeline will settle.
How the Roadster Stacks Up Against Rivals
No other production car maker has publicly demonstrated a street-legal vehicle performing an upside-down ramp hold or a thruster-assisted aerial rotation, which puts this reveal in a category of its own rather than head-to-head against a specific competitor’s spec sheet. The more useful comparison is against the Roadster’s own 2017 promises and against the broader field of ultra-high-performance electric vehicles that have launched in the years since Tesla first announced the car. Those rivals have shipped real cars with real delivery dates while Tesla’s Roadster slipped repeatedly. This week’s demonstration doesn’t erase that gap, but it does give Tesla something none of those rivals have matched: a car that can, at minimum, perform tricks no competing hypercar has shown in public.
Confirmed Specs vs Lingering Questions
Separating what Tesla has actually confirmed from what remains speculation matters here more than usual, given how often Roadster claims have shifted since 2017. The table below lays out where the hard facts end and the open questions begin.
| Item | Status | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| 0-60 time demonstrated | Confirmed | 0.81 seconds, shown at the event |
| Thruster count | Confirmed | 10 SpaceX cold-gas thrusters used for rotation |
| Production start | Confirmed | Tesla says 2028 |
| Vehicle status shown | Confirmed | Described as prototype or production-intent, not final spec |
| 1.9s 0-60, 250 mph top speed, 620-mile range (2017 promise) | Unconfirmed | Not verified as final specs for the demonstrated vehicle |
| Performance, Thrust, and Rocket trim names and pricing | Unconfirmed | Reporting is inconsistent; no official spec sheet released |
| Which tricks reach customers | Unconfirmed | Tesla has not said whether suction and thruster features ship on the retail car |
Production Timeline: The Road to 2028
Tesla’s stated production start of 2028 gives the company roughly two more years to turn this week’s demonstration into a shipping vehicle. That’s a meaningful amount of runway for a company that has already pushed the Roadster’s timeline back repeatedly since the original 2017 announcement. It also means the specific tricks shown this week, the suction hold, the thruster-assisted flip, the kickflip over the vehicle lineup, have two years to either get locked into the production spec or get quietly dropped the way earlier promised features sometimes have been on other Tesla vehicles. Until Tesla issues a full spec sheet, treat 2028 as the date to watch rather than the date the finished car’s capabilities get decided.
Five Predictions for the Roadster’s Next Act
- Tesla will likely release a more detailed technical spec sheet for the suction and thruster systems well before the 2028 production date, if only to manage expectations after this week’s demonstration went viral.
- Expect continued public skepticism over whether the demonstrated tricks, especially the upside-down hold and aerial rotation, will be available on the retail version of the car rather than limited to prototype units.
- Pricing details, including whatever becomes of the reported Performance, Thrust, and Rocket trim names, will likely firm up gradually over the next year rather than arriving all at once.
- Rival automakers and EV startups are unlikely to attempt a direct copy of the suction-and-thruster demonstration in the near term, given the apparent reliance on SpaceX-derived hardware that few competitors can access.
- Coverage volume around the Roadster will spike again closer to 2028 as Tesla moves from demonstration to delivery, mirroring the pattern seen around other long-delayed Tesla products.
Frequently Asked Questions
What tricks did the Tesla Roadster actually perform?
Four main moves: climbing a ramp and holding itself upside down using suction fans, launching off the ramp and rotating with thrusters before landing on its wheels, jumping over a lineup of Tesla vehicles while performing a horizontal “kickflip,” and a straight-line 0-60 mph acceleration run.
How does the suction system work?
Tesla has said fans mounted under the car create suction that pulls the vehicle against a surface. According to Tesla Vice President of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy, the system has a low-speed mode for added traction and a high-speed mode that opens front and rear sections for more airflow, and can pull up to two Gs to hold the car upside down.
What are the cold-gas thrusters, and where did they come from?
Tesla says the Roadster uses 10 cold-gas thrusters supplied by SpaceX for in-air rotation and attitude control, the same category of propulsion SpaceX uses for fine orientation adjustments on its own vehicles.
Is the 0.81-second 0-60 time final?
Tesla demonstrated the figure at the event, but the company has not confirmed it as the final production specification. The vehicle shown was described as a prototype or production-intent car rather than a finished retail spec.
When will the Roadster go into production?
Tesla says production will begin in 2028.
Will the suction and thruster features actually ship on the car customers buy?
That’s unconfirmed. Tesla has not said whether every trick shown at the reveal will carry over to the retail version of the Roadster.
Are the 2017 performance promises still accurate?
No. The original 2017 figures of a 1.9-second 0-60 time, a 250 mph top speed, and 620 miles of range have not been confirmed as final specifications for the vehicle demonstrated this week.
What did outlets covering the reveal focus on?
Mashable, The Detroit News, Engadget, Car and Driver, and Digital Trends all covered the stunt demonstration, with most coverage centering on the suction-fan hold, the thruster-assisted kickflip, and the acceleration run, as outlined in reporting from Mashable and The Verge.
