Is The New Tesla Roadster Actually A Roadster? Not Really

It’s not a convertible, that’s for sure.

Photo by: Tesla

By: Iulian Dnistran

Oct 16, at 3:16am ET

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Tesla unveiled the new Roadster, turning the wild claims dial to 11 out of 10.
Wicked acceleration and the ability to jump and do barrel rolls are among the promised features.
However, Tesla gave no indication that the Roadster’s roof—or at least a part of it—can be removed.

There’s a new Tesla Roadster out in the wild, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the first generation that put the company on the map in the late 2000s, or the second-generation prototype from 2017.

The company took its sweet time to bring something truly spectacular on stage. Tesla claims that the new Roadster will go into production in 2028, with fans that suck it onto the ground and cold-gas thrusters that enable it to jump over other cars, do barrel rolls in mid-air, and accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in less than a second.

Photo by: Tesla

Whether or not that will ever happen is anyone’s guess, as Tesla has a track record of promising amazing features and coming up short. And now, it even comes down to the car’s name, which may prove to be a little misleading.

Tesla’s first car was called the Roadster for a good reason: it did what it said on the box. The roof, which was either a hardtop or a softtop, could be removed, making for a great open-air experience. The roof had to be removed and mounted manually, but owners could make the most of their cars, especially during nice weather.

Now, though, Tesla said that the new Roadster’s roof can't actually be removed. A big part of that comes down to the butterfly doors, which cut into the roof itself, leaving very little structure in the middle of the car.

The new Roadster's roof is extremely narrow, and it looks like it's a non-removable structural part.

Photo by: Tesla

But not all hope is lost. Besides the regular side windows, the doors also have glass on the upper section, and the top sections can be removed, as confirmed by Franz von Holzhausen, the company's head of design, in a TopGear video.

Tesla Roadster development prototype

Photos by: Tesla

This makes the new Roadster a split-roof T-top, similar to the 1968 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. It’s definitely not a traditional convertible, though. And there’s also the issue of storing the removable body panels, as the car doesn’t seem to have a trunk—there’s a huge air tank behind the passenger compartment.

What do you think?

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Comments

A lot can change between now and 2028, when the car will supposedly go into production. It could eventually become a convertible, and it could also ditch all of the fancy features that made plenty of headlines today. It could also go missing without an explanation, but the company is confident that the car will start rolling off the assembly line in Texas without major changes. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Updated with confirmation from Tesla that the top windows on the doors of the Roadster can be removed.