Elon Musk says Tesla made a new Roadster to be a 'hardcore smackdown to gas-powered cars'

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Elon Musk says Tesla made a new Roadster to be a 'hardcore smackdown to gas-powered cars'

New Tesla Roadster

Tesla

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  • Elon Musk called the new Roadster a "hardcore smackdown to gas-powered cars."
  • Tesla finally has a proper supercar.
  • Serious fans of the company have been begging for a new Roadster for years.


HAWTHORNE, California - It takes a lot to upstage not one, but two, all-electric semi-trucks. But on Thursday night, Tesla did just that, fulfilling the dreams of every red-blooded fan of the company.

Through the pulsing strains of the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage," the long-awaited new Roadster was unveiled. Or, rather rolled out of the back of a matte-black semi-trailer, then piloted into a pair of 0-60 mph speed runs by Tesla design chief Franz von Holzhausen.

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CEO Elon Musk then detailed the sleek, red four-seater's mad stats, including the sprint to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds and a top-speed north of 250 mph, while the crowd went berserk.

Musk called it a "hardcore smackdown to gas-powered cars." He said it would make petrol-burners look like "steam engines with a side of quiche."

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Tesla New Roadster

Tesla

That it is. The Model S P100D in Ludicrous Mode can already outrun the world's fastest supercars. The new Roadster will leave them in its warp-speed wake, instantly becoming the fastest car on the planet.

The original Roadster was Tesla's first car, and it redefined what electric cars could be: no dowdy, glorified golf carts - sexy, high-speed dream machines.

The original Roadster is out of production, but serious Tesla lovers have been clamoring for a new one. Tesla has teased, now the teasing has ended. The new car arrives in 2020.

I speculated that Tesla might roll something special out of the back of one of its semi-trailers on Thursday - but I was half-kidding. To get a new Roadster was mind-blowing, especially given that the original Roadster was my introduction to the company and its mission, and it's still my favorite Tesla.

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The Tesla Semi event already went to 11 on the hype meter. I'm not even sure I can estimate the volume that a new Roadster brought to the party. It was louder than loud. And shot across the bow of every supercar and hypercar brand in the world.

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