Dear Elon: I Don't Want To Hear Another Word About Flying Teslas Until This Real Problem Is Fixed

For a moment, put aside any reservations you may have about the ever-controversial Elon Musk, and consider what his company, Tesla, has achieved over the years. After launching the original Roadster back in 2008, Tesla has grown from strength to strength, having launched hugely successful models such as the Model 3 and Model Y, alongside pioneering future-thinking tech, perhaps most notably autonomous driving. While Musk has fallen through on some promises, he certainly has come good on a few, such as delivering affordable mass-market EVs to the masses, and developing gigafactories which cut production times and costs. Plus, bringing a sharp electric truck to the market. However, the headline-snatching billionaire keeps falling through on one of the most exciting promises he's ever made — to bring us the return of the Tesla Roadster.

Now, while electric cars don't really get my juices flowing, the promise of a $200,000 drop-top with a zero-to-60 mph time of 1.9 seconds, real-world driving range north of 600 miles, and a Veyron-challenging 250 mph top speed is surely enough to pique the interest of any gearhead. Unfortunately, for those of us with our interests piqued, Musk keeps moving the bar. Initially, the revised and world-beating Roadster was supposed to arrive in 2020. For those of you not counting, it's now five years late, and we still don't seem any closer to the vision being realized.

Or do we? Musk hinted to Joe Rogan a few days ago now, on the JRE Podcast, that a public unveiling of a working prototype is remarkably close, and maybe even just months, if not weeks, away. That's surely great news for all involved, especially for those that left $50,000 deposits some eight years ago now, but then Musk said something deeply frustrating.

"The future was supposed to have flying cars, but we don't have flying cars". That's right, while he didn't precisely confirm that the Roadster 2.0 will be airborne, and follow-up questions from Joe Rogan on the podcast were met with a sort-of "you'll have to wait and see" response, Elon Musk did strongly hint that the "unbelievable" public demo of the Roadster will show it as a flying vehicle.

The first thought that popped into my head was, just why? The hype train for the Roadster 2.0 has been soldiering on for years now, and at no point has anyone requested that their reserved 250 mph Tesla be able to take to the skies. Is this why the project is so late, has Musk been pushing the Roadster project back just to realize some fantastical dream he's been having?

Now, I don't have $50,000 of my own money sunk into Tesla's bottom-line as a deposit, so perhaps I'm not the most authoritative person to state this, but I don't think a flying car is what Tesla customers are holding out for. They want a sleek, four-seat, drop-top EV which can hit 250 mph, crack the 60 mph barrier in 1.9 seconds, cover 600+ miles from a single charge, and cost around $200,000. They want a car that delivers on the promises made back in 2017, back when Trump was just taking his first seat in office. Times have changed, but the desire for that original Roadster still burns deep within the hearts of patient customers, and as for flying cars, Musk needs to drop it, and focus on producing the car he's already promised.

Here's the next thing — flying cars are nothing new. In the episode 'Eurocrash' from season 5 of "The Grand Tour," a flying car by the name of the AirCar drives up to meet the trio, unfolds its wings, powers down a runway and then takes off. It was the first flying car to ever fly from one airport to another, and it made its first maiden flight back in 2020 – when the Roadster 2.0 was supposed to arrive.

The AirCar is rumored to be arriving at some point in 2026, with a cost somewhere between $800,000 and $1 million. As of now though, from what we can tell, just one prototype exists, and it's not exactly stealing column inches in the press is it? The reason why is simple, at least for me — I don't think anyone actually wants a flying car.

If the demand was there, established automakers would have surely jumped on the bandwagon years ago, buying smaller companies like this out and pushing for the tech to become mainstream. The AirCar looks like a wonderful play thing for the deep-pocketed individuals among us, and it's a fabulous bit of engineering, but it's not what we want to see from Tesla. Don't break another promise, Elon, like with Tesla shareholders, and quit trying to reinvent the wheel — we like it round.