Why the Tesla Roadster Event Was Delayed—and What It Means for the Stock

Tesla moved its new Roadster event to Oct. 15, citing severe weather conditions. (SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Key Points

• Tesla postponed its Texas event to show off the new Roadster from Tuesday to Oct. 15, citing severe weather conditions.
• The second-generation Roadster is expected to cost over $200,000 and include technology from Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX.
• Wall Street expects Tesla to report third-quarter delivery numbers of about 460,000 cars sold on Friday.

Tesla was set up for a big week. Then the weather intervened.

Today was the day Tesla was going to show off its new Roadster at an event in Texas. Late Monday, however, Tesla moved it to Oct. 15, citing severe weather conditions. That move set off speculation about why the event needed to be outdoors at all. Investors still don’t know exactly what they will see. The new Roadster might literally fly.

Tesla teased the updated Roadster in 2017, almost a decade ago. The long-awaited second-generation Roadster should cost north of $200,000 and, in certain configurations, is expected to include technology from Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX. Zero-to-60 miles per hour acceleration should approach one second, giving the car a carnival-ride feel.

That isn’t all. The car might be able to fly—or at least hop and levitate. Musk has been talking about a flying Roadster for years. Whether he can pull it off is still anyone’s guess. Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment.

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Appearing at the All-In Podcast Summit in September, Musk “guaranteed” excitement. “Elon showed [the Roadster] it to me,” said All-In co-host Jason Calacanis. “My mind went boom…What’s he going to show on 10/1…is going to blow people’s minds.”

Now the event is on Oct. 15. It will be worth watching. Still, it might not move the stock. There is a limited market for low-volume vehicles costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even if the new Roadster is as successful as Ferrari , it’s worth about $60 billion to Tesla. That’s about 4% of its current fully-diluted market capitalization.

Cool cars are great, but the Roadster’s ability to drive itself with Tesla’s AI-trained driver assistance software matters more than rocket-powered acceleration. Tesla is spending heavily building out its AI capabilities. It matters more than EVs now. AI is the main reason Tesla stock trades at about 170 times estimated earnings expected over the coming 12 months.

Waiting investors can console themselves with another car data point this week. Tesla is expected to report third-quarter delivery numbers on Friday. Wall Street is looking for about 460,000 cars sold, down from almost 500,000 in the third quarter of 2025. That latter quarter, however, was boosted by the expiration of the federal $7,500 purchase tax credit.

Tesla stock was up 0.4% in premarket trading Thursday at $356.35, while S&P 500 futures were up 0.3% and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were flat.

Coming into Thursday trading, Tesla stock was down 21% this year.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@barrons.com.

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