Tesla Inc TSLA is still “feverishly” working on plans to launch the electric hypercar Roadster, Electrek reported on Wednesday, citing the EV maker’s Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen.
What Happened: Holzhausen provided an update on the Roadster program in a Spike Car Radio podcast.
The designer confirmed the EV maker is working on the Roadster and that there are numerous learnings from the Plaid platform which would result in “a much better Roadster than had we launched right after we debuted it.”
The Plaid platform is the tri-motor powertrain introduced in the updated Model S and Model X vehicles.
With all the “continuous improvements,” the new Roadster “will be an amazing, exciting flying machine with the SpaceX package,” the report noted, citing Holzhausen.
Why It Matters: Musk has previously said that the yet-to-enter production Roadster will be equipped with cold gas thrusters, similar to those used in the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The thrusters could help the Roadster clock 0-60 miles per hour in 1.1 seconds.
The billionaire entrepreneur had last year pushed back the shipment timeline for the Roadster by at least one year to 2023 due to “super crazy supply chain shortages.”
Tesla first announced plans for the new version of the Roadster in 2017, touting it as the quickest car in the world with a top speed of at least 250 miles an hour and a range of more than 620 miles on a full charge.
Price Action: Tesla shares closed 1% higher at $932 a share on Wednesday.
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