Tesla’s new Roadster can, it says, drive upside down and hop over traffic. What it can’t do is get registered in Australia. Its Australian web page now reads: “Available as a Left-Hand Drive vehicle only.”
There’s no reserve button on Tesla’s Australian Roadster page either, only a prompt to get updates. That’s a sharp turn from late September, when Tesla briefly took Australian reservations at A$66,000 each, weeks before anyone had seen the car.
What did Tesla actually reveal?
Tesla showed the redesigned Roadster on 15 October, US time, at SpaceX’s test site near Waco, Texas. With no driver aboard, a white show car used fans to cling to an inverted ramp, flipped, landed, then fired cold-gas thrusters to hop over a row of Teslas.
There are three versions. Performance is the road car, with active aero and a fan-powered suction floor. Thrust adds rear thrusters, and Tesla’s Australian page claims 0-100km/h in under one second. Rocket is invite only, seats one, and is “not approved for public road use”.
Elon Musk put production at 2028. No price was given for any version. US reservations cost US$50,000 for the Performance and US$250,000 for the Thrust. Musk was candid on legality: “I’m not sure it’s necessarily legal in all jurisdictions.”
Why left-hand drive rules it out here
Left-hand-drive cars are hard to register here. Victoria’s vehicle standards guidance says cars under 30 years old must be right-hand drive for full registration, with narrow exceptions. Other states have similar rules, and any import would also need federal approval and Australian Design Rule compliance.
Then there’s the hardware. A suction floor, steer-by-wire yoke and carbon-fibre tanks holding gas at very high pressure have never been through Australian certification. Until Tesla commits to a right-hand-drive Roadster, there’s nothing for an Australian buyer to buy.
What happens to Australian deposits?
Tesla hasn’t said. Australians who reserved in September paid A$7,000 upfront and A$59,000 within 10 days. Some 2017-era holders paid the same, and Founders Series buyers far more. Tesla Australia has published nothing on refunds or transfers since the page changed.
If you’re one of them, ask Tesla in writing where your reservation stands and how it can be refunded, and keep every reply. In 2025, OpenAI chief Sam Altman said the refund address had been shut down when he tried to cancel his reservation.
Nine years of promises
The Roadster was first shown in November 2017 with a 2020 production date. It has slipped every year since. The 2026 car is quicker on Tesla’s numbers, but it has lost two seats and roughly half its promised range, and the price is still a mystery.
| 2017 promise | 2026 claim | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-60mph (0-97km/h) | 1.9 seconds | Under 1.6 seconds (Performance); demo run shown as 0.81 seconds |
| Range | About 1,000km (620 miles) | Over 480km (300 miles) |
| Seats | Four (2+2) | Two; one in the Rocket |
| Price | From US$200,000 | Not announced |
| Production | 2020 | 2028 |
| Australian reservation | A$66,000 (A$7,000 plus A$59,000) | Not available; left-hand drive only |
Tesla and Elon Musk claims, none independently verified. 2026 figures as stated at the 15 October reveal and on Tesla's Australian Roadster page, 27 October 2026.
None of the new figures has been independently tested. The 0.81-second run shown on the livestream was Tesla’s own timing, and the “flying” Rocket performed short hops rather than sustained flight. The US aviation regulator has said the car doesn’t meet its definition of an aircraft.
What this means for Aussie buyers
It’s the second Tesla halo car to slip out of reach in a fortnight. Tesla has also cancelled the Cybertruck for Australia and New Zealand, refunding A$150 deposits. Neither matters much to Tesla’s local business, which is built on the Model Y and Model 3.
Tesla delivered 5,654 cars here in September, up 21.3 per cent, according to the Electric Vehicle Council, part of the shift in our September VFACTS analysis. If you’re shopping for a Tesla you can actually register, our Model Y vs BYD Sealion 7 comparison is the place to start.
Want a hyper-EV you can drive today? The Porsche Taycan Turbo GT is on sale here with a claimed 2.3-second 0-100km/h. Just expect big depreciation on any expensive EV; our EV depreciation guide explains why.
For now, the Roadster is a spectacular piece of US theatre. Don’t pay a deposit for one in Australia until Tesla offers a right-hand-drive version, a price and a date it actually keeps.
Images show the 2017 prototype and the original 2008 Roadster, not the 2026 car. Header image: Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).
