EVwire brief: Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen and VP of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy confirmed that the next-generation Tesla Roadster will be built in Texas.
During an appearance on the Ride the Lightning podcast, the two executives told host Ryan McCaffrey that there is one detail about the next-gen Roadster they can talk about:
“We can say it’s going to be built in Texas. We’ve made first plans on that and you start to see a lot of things start to unfold in the next months.”
Here’s a section of the podcast where the two Tesla executives discussed the Roadster’s production location:
Context:
Back in 2020, Elon Musk stated that the vehicle could be produced at the Fremont Factory alongside the refreshed Model S and Model X. During the Q2 2020 earnings call, Elon Musk said: “We think, probably, also the Tesla Roadster, a future program, would also make sense in California.”
Since then, Tesla has increasingly concentrated its newest and most advanced vehicle programs in Giga Texas. The company recently retired the Model S and Model X lines in Fremont as well, to make way for Optimus’ pilot production.
Longtime Tesla watcher Joe Tegtmeyer also spotted this test track being built in the Giga Texas premises.
Moving 0-60 mph time targets
The Roadster has remained one of Tesla’s most ambitious vehicles since its unveiling in late 2017. During its debut, Musk stated that the car could achieve a 0-60 mph time of 1.9 seconds in base form.
Later, he stated that the new Roadster’s optional SpaceX-inspired cold-gas thruster package could potentially enable a sub-1-second 0-60 mph time. This, Musk noted “ would be the least interesting part” of the vehicle.
Musk has also noted in 2024 that the Tesla team has radically increased the design goals for the new Roadster. Tesla has also filed new trademarks for the vehicle, which tease a new silhouette for the vehicle.
The Roadster’s updated shape was teased in Tesla’s new trademark application for the vehicle
Worth noting: Interestingly, neither Franz von Holzhausen nor Lars Moravy explicitly said “Giga Texas” during the podcast discussion. They only referenced “Texas,” leaving a small amount of room for speculation about how Tesla may ultimately approach the new Roadster’s production.
The Roadster has long been framed as a collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX. Considering the Roadster will likely be a low-volume, highly specialized halo car, it is not impossible to imagine Tesla handling parts of the program differently from its past vehicles.
While there is currently no evidence suggesting production outside Giga Texas, the idea of limited Roadster assembly or SpaceX package integration happening at Starbase would be quite something.
You can also check out the full Franz and Lars’ full interview below:
Source: Ryan McCaffrey on X
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