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Visited Tesla Regarding Status of 2020+ Roadster

Is the Tesla Roadster 2020+ worth the wait?

  • Yes

  • No


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Greetings, fellow Roadster fans and Tesla enthusiasts. For those of you interested in the Tesla Roadster, I felt compelled to set up a Tesla Motors Club forum account to share my experience going into Tesla and speaking with them about the Tesla Roadster today.

At first, let me emphasize that for several years now, I have been a big fan of the new and upcoming Tesla Roadster. It is my understanding that with the exception of a very, very few prototype Roadsters, the car has not been manufactured. At the time of this writing, if I were to estimate, there are probably less than 5 Tesla Roadster 2020+ prototype models in the entire world. I believe these prototypes were created with no 620 mile range battery, no internal dash board/LED behind the steering wheel on the driver's side, and no side mirrors at all. The purpose of these ultra rare prototype Roadsters is to simply illustrate a high level conceptual overview of the body design as well as a first-hand demonstration of the torque and raw speed as it is likely pulling heavily from a smaller capacity battery. All unimplemented parts of Roadster such as the side mirrors that may use cameras and the drivers side dash board have simply not been designed or even determined this early on in the process.

Yesterday, I drove to my local Tesla dealership to ask them questions about the upcoming Roadster. I wanted to ask a Tesla sales associate face to face to see their response in person rather than asking over the phone. My primary question related to whether or not my $5k + $45k reservation guarantees me a spot in production for whenever Tesla eventually gets around to manufacturing the Roadster even if we are still a long way off from production. My concern is that I do not want to reserve a Tesla Roadster for $50k and then be caught years later after Roadster production cycle ends with Tesla saying, "Sorry, we only decided to make 10,000 of these Roadsters and you are number 10,001, so we won't be making one for you at all." The Tesla representative told me that once Tesla reaches the maximum number of vehicles being produced based on reservations, Tesla will end the opportunity for new users to reserve a new Roadster on their website. As long as you have a reservation, you will definitely be eventually contacted when a VIN is assigned to your account to selection options and for a purchase/transfer of the remaining balance.

When explaining all of this to me, the Tesla representative wanted to emphasize that we are still a long ways off from Roadster 2020+ production. To support his point, the Tesla rep told me that the Cyber Truck and Semi must be built first and "they have not even finished building the Tesla factory in Austin, TX where they will be building the Cyber Truck." WOW. So they still have to build the Cyber Truck factory, the Cyber Truck, and the Semi!

I pressed the Tesla rep for his estimation on when production will begin and he said, "Late 2022". Take that for whatever it is worth. My conclusion? I am patient and fully understand we are still a long ways off from production. It still feels good to know that I would have a guaranteed place in line whenever the time comes that the Roadster is produced, however. It feels good to know that a person's reservation cannot fall into the category if remaining unfulfilled because they've reached the maximum number of Roadsters being built whenever the time comes that they manufacture the Roadster. In my mind, the Tesla Roadster should be reserved ($50k) with the attitude that the Roadster will eventually be produced but that it's best to forget about the Roadster between now and then. Keep driving whatever it is that you drive right now, hold the remaining balance in a savings account, move on with life, and someday in the future you absolutely will be contacted by Tesla about the Roadster.

How does that sound? Are you willing to live your life knowing that some day years later, you will be assigned a VIN for one of the fastest street legal cars in the world? How does that make you feel?
 

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Two years from now for start of production sounds about right. They decided to use the plaid Roadster powertrain in the Model S, and that won't even be available for a year, so no way any get shipped in 2021.

That said, they never said that the new Roadster will be a limited production vehicle. My guess is that they'll keep making them as long as people keep buying them. The only reason they stopped making the original Roadster was that Lotus reached the end of their agreement and wouldn't make any more gliders for Tesla. There's no way they would have stopped then otherwise. It was before the first Model S shipped, so for a while they were a car company not producing any cars at all, which isn't a great place to be.

And in the interim, I'll just drive my original Roadster. It still works. (Usually.)
 
I recommend you find out when the New Roadster was first unveiled, and note the date they suggested it would be out at that time.

Then, look at today’s date and when they are suggesting when it will be out.

Now, keep your money in the bank and only buy based on reality, not hype. You may as well invest it for the next 2-4 years instead of giving Tesla an interest free donation, I mean loan(?).
 
I recommend you find out when the New Roadster was first unveiled, and note the date they suggested it would be out at that time.

Then, look at today’s date and when they are suggesting when it will be out.

Now, keep your money in the bank and only buy based on reality, not hype. You may as well invest it for the next 2-4 years instead of giving Tesla an interest-free donation, I mean loan(?).

I agree 100% with @InternetDude. In my case, my Roadster II funds are a small part of my $TSLA investment. The $50K deposit could grow to $100-200K worth of $TSLA shares by 2022 if Tesla continues to execute according to Elon's plan. Normally I avoid personal debt, but these are not normal times, unfortunately. When it comes time to purchase, instead of selling ANY shares, I will finance my Roadster II with Loan Rates | Stanford Federal Credit Union over 84 months at 1.99% APR and keep all of my $TSLA. I expect my $TSLA return will be considerably higher than 1.99%! :D The Roadster II will be like "driving my dividend". I cannot wait to get behind the wheel!

I still own my first roadster, an Anthracite Grey 1983 Mercedes-Benz 380sl. I kept it for sentimental reasons (or maybe I'm just a hoarder?). :rolleyes: I drove it across the USA from NH to CA in 1983 and have many happy memories of road trips with my fiance (now wife) in that car. It's worth about $20K as a "classic". I'm going to get rid of it when I get my R2!
 
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A friend of mine waited in line to put a deposit on Model 3 on the first day Tesla was accepting them. IIRC, he waited about a year and a half. A month or two after his delivery, you could order one and get it in about a month. I believe Model X has a similar history. R2? Same story different year(s).
 
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Very insightful and helpful feedback, guys. Thank you for the investment recommendation and historical breakdown of past Tesla models that could influence a buyer's decision on the $50k deposit requirement.

One additional bit of information that I am able to extract from your feedback is that it seems as though long time Tesla customers believe Tesla Roadster will become a vehicle which comes out consistently rather than a vehicle that comes out just one year and then it is no longer supported like they did with the Roadster from 2011.

If I knew for certain that Roadster 2020+ was going to be offered for several years back-to-back, I would be highly inclined to wait for the 2nd or 3rd year so that Tesla has an opportunity to iron out the issues with the first release. In other words, I do not look at 2011 as the first release of the Roadster. I look at this upcoming Roadster 2020+ as the first release and subsequent years will be follow-on releases with additional enhancements perhaps.

This presents a personal challenge for me. Buy the first release or wait for the second/third year to buy? With the new "late 2022" forecast of the Roadster 2020+, waiting one or two years on top of that seems too far down the road to even think about waiting for it.
 
A friend of mine waited in line to put a deposit on Model 3 on the first day Tesla was accepting them. IIRC, he waited about a year and a half. A month or two after his delivery, you could order one and get it in about a month. I believe Model X has a similar history. R2? Same story different year(s).
One major difference between R2 and Model 3 is volume production. My understanding is the R2 will be limited production, even if it does run for multiple years. I don't have a clue how many reservations they have for R2, but it very well could be a limited production qty based on the reservation count on a specific day (the day Tesla decides to not take any additional reservations, if that day comes). The price itself will prevent the R2 from being a high enough volume car to warrant a continued production line, imo. But this is Elon's company, so who knows what Tesla will do.... :) Tesla may already have enough reservations to keep a small line running for 3-4 years, which may be the end of the production.
 
How does that sound? Are you willing to live your life knowing that some day years later, you will be assigned a VIN for one of the fastest street legal cars in the world? How does that make you feel?

I never put down a pre-order deposit, because I had already learned from my experience with the original Roadster that I, personally, am just not emotionally wired for that. It doesn't work for me. In retrospect, putting money into TSLA turned out to be a much better decision anyhow. Whenever the Roadster Mark II does finally appear, and if I am still determined to get one at that time, I should be able to swing it.

The lack of info about the car, and the obvious delays in getting it to production, are a bit disheartening. Some of the concerns I had about the design from the beginning (like weight and handling) remain just as much open questions now as they were then.

But here's the context that we all know, even if we don't talk about it much: Where's the alternative? Where's the competition? It's not like there are any other compelling (to me at least) electric sports cars looming on the horizon. There are a few ultra-exotic electric hypercars that are, quite deliberately, kept out of reach from those of us who are not Saudi princes. But there is still no electric Corvette. (IMHO, GM wasted an opportunity taking the Corvette mid-engine, which they should have done 20 years ago if they were going to bother at all.) There is no electric Mazda Miata. (Mazda remain highly allergic to BEVs, which is intensely frustrating to me.) Lotus have said they are doing one more ICE sports car, then models after that will be electric, but how many years will it take them to get around to that?

I feel like one reason it's taking so long for the Roadster to reach the top of Tesla's to-do list is because there is no competitive pressure. There's nowhere else for us to go.
 
One major difference between R2 and Model 3 is volume production....... keep a small line running for 3-4 years, which may be the end of the production.

To me, and I very well could be wrong, I think the emails sent out reminding people of the discount they earned off the R2 shows they have no intention on making it a limited production car. Tesla isn't exactly hurting for money right now and these reminders also stated that a down payment or reservation fee wasn't even needed. I also take it that they feel the new battery tech and eventually new battery production is making good advances, which is awesome. Although it could be looked at as a discounted Roadster helps the bottom line more than a free one, and it seems there were quite a few that were lucky enough to win.

I am in no way saying production will rival the Model 3 :p

Lots of Texas interest in the new Roadster... Love it!!!!
 
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I never put down a pre-order deposit, because I had already learned from my experience with the original Roadster that I, personally, am just not emotionally wired for that. It doesn't work for me. In retrospect, putting money into TSLA turned out to be a much better decision anyhow. Whenever the Roadster Mark II does finally appear, and if I am still determined to get one at that time, I should be able to swing it.

The lack of info about the car, and the obvious delays in getting it to production, are a bit disheartening. Some of the concerns I had about the design from the beginning (like weight and handling) remain just as much open questions now as they were then.

But here's the context that we all know, even if we don't talk about it much: Where's the alternative? Where's the competition? It's not like there are any other compelling (to me at least) electric sports cars looming on the horizon. There are a few ultra-exotic electric hypercars that are, quite deliberately, kept out of reach from those of us who are not Saudi princes. But there is still no electric Corvette. (IMHO, GM wasted an opportunity taking the Corvette mid-engine, which they should have done 20 years ago if they were going to bother at all.) There is no electric Mazda Miata. (Mazda remain highly allergic to BEVs, which is intensely frustrating to me.) Lotus have said they are doing one more ICE sports car, then models after that will be electric, but how many years will it take them to get around to that?

I feel like one reason it's taking so long for the Roadster to reach the top of Tesla's to-do list is because there is no competitive pressure. There's nowhere else for us to go.

Now that Elon lives in Texas, he should move the new Roadster production to the Austin site....just add another small production line to the new building while it's still under construction... :)
 
Now that Elon lives in Texas, he should move the new Roadster production to the Austin site....just add another small production line to the new building while it's still under construction... :)

I've been thinking about that. We know the Austin factory is slated to build Y and Cybertruck, both of which should be high volume items. It might make sense to close out Y production in Fremont, and maybe 3 as well. It's a smaller and less efficient facility, and it might be better to only produce lower-volume and higher-value vehicle there, such as S and X and Roadster.
 
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I've been thinking about that. We know the Austin factory is slated to build Y and Cybertruck, both of which should be high volume items. It might make sense to close out Y production in Fremont, and maybe 3 as well. It's a smaller and less efficient facility, and it might be better to only produce lower-volume and higher-value vehicle there, such as S and X and Roadster.
booo, booo... :)
 
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