Musk's 'levitating' Tesla Roadster could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars — and you still can't drive it on public roads

Tesla is internally weighing a plan to sell a limited number of its new hovering Roadster to select customers, modeled after Ferrari's circuit-only program in which buyers drive the vehicle under company supervision, sources said.

The Information, a US technology publication, reported Friday, citing multiple sources, that Tesla plans to hold a demonstration event for the new Roadster as early as this month at SpaceX's rocket testing facility in McGregor, Texas.

The limited-edition Roadster used in the demonstration will not be street-legal. Its price is expected to reach hundreds of thousands of dollars, and potentially into the millions. Tesla also plans to unveil a standard, road-legal version of the Roadster at the same event.

The demonstration vehicle will be operated remotely with no one on board, as the noise and vibration from the SpaceX-developed cold-gas thrusters are loud enough to cause hearing damage. Spectators will watch from several hundred meters away.

The original demonstration concept called for the car to race up a roller-coaster-style magnetic ramp, travel inverted, then return to an upright position and hover in the air.

Musk delayed the public unveiling schedule and modified some elements after an internal demonstration, sources said.

"We started with the idea that we were basically building an aircraft, and it ended up being closer to levitation," a person familiar with the development told The Information.

It has not been confirmed whether Tesla plans to livestream the demonstration or release edited footage at a later date.

Musk has said the SpaceX package-equipped Roadster can reach 60 miles per hour (about 97 kilometers per hour) in 1.1 seconds. The base model without thrusters does it in 1.9 seconds, with a top speed exceeding 250 mph. The SpaceX package consists of approximately 10 cold-gas thrusters.

The Roadster is a product Musk has long held dear. Tesla sold the first-generation Roadster — the company's debut product and the world's first electric sports car — from 2008 to 2012.

In 2018, Musk launched his personal first-generation Roadster into space aboard a SpaceX rocket.

The new Roadster made its debut at a semi-truck unveiling event in November 2017, when Tesla promised a production start of 2020. The launch has since been delayed more than eight times.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman mocked the wait during a social media spat with Musk in November last year, posting his 2018 reservation email and writing, "7.5 years is too long to wait."

dbsdn1110@heraldcorp.com