Tesla Reopens Roadster Reservations Requiring $50,000 Deposit
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What happened
Tesla has reopened reservations for its next-generation Roadster, requiring a fully refundable $5,000 credit-card payment followed by a $45,000 wire transfer within ten days to complete a $50,000 deposit; the book is also open in Canada and China. The company first unveiled a prototype in November 2017, advertising a $200,000 base price, 0-to-60 mph acceleration in 1.9 seconds, a 620-mile range, and deliveries beginning in 2020, and it previously collected $50,000 deposits as well as $250,000 payments for a limited Founders Series; the vehicle never entered production on that schedule. Tesla is scheduled to unveil a redesigned Roadster on October 1 at SpaceX's McGregor test site in Texas, an event the company says will address pricing, specs, and production targets, with CEO Elon Musk describing the presentation as a "banger" and saying a live audience is needed to confirm that what they see "is not AI." Reporting cited in coverage says the program moved from a Model S Plaid-based approach to an all-new carbon-fiber hypercar and that the event could include a limited-edition model with SpaceX-developed cold-gas thrusters. Tesla has not said what the redesigned vehicle will cost or how it will treat customers who placed reservations years earlier.
Sourcing check · Fully on the record · 2 articles
1 of 1 article cites a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report.
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- On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: Elon Musk
- Primary evidence · cites a document or data 0 of 1
- Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: None cited.
- Credits another outlet 0 of 1
- The article says the story comes from another outlet's reporting (“first reported by Reuters”). Those articles relay the story; they are not independent confirmation. Here: Each article presents its own reporting.
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- How it developed
- When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Sep 22, 00:36 UTC by New York Post, naming its source.
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This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Readers of left-leaning coverage never learn what Tesla originally said the Roadster would cost, or how earlier buyers will be treated. Right-leaning coverage in the New York Post reports a $200,000 base price from the first unveil. That same coverage notes the company has not said how it will handle those customers. Left-leaning coverage never states a vehicle price and instead treats the reopened book as a stock-options catalyst.
Left-leaning coverage opens on a trading setup and treats reopening the order book as a reason to buy upside in the shares. Right-leaning coverage opens on the cash customers must wire and on a vehicle that never entered production.
Will people who reserved in 2017 have to put down another deposit to keep their place?
Bottom line
A reader of CNBC would think the new deposit is just a bullish tell. Only the New York Post reports Tesla already advertised a $200,000 sticker and has not said what happens to the old waitlist.
The receipts — 5 facts one side's coverage lacks
- Tesla has not said how it will handle customers who placed reservations years ago
- Tesla originally said deliveries would begin in 2020
- Tesla took $250,000 payments for a limited Founders Series version
- Tesla says the event will put pricing, specs, and production targets on the table
- The reservation book has also been opened in Canada and China
The Left View
CNBC contributor Mike Khouw frames the reopening chiefly as a trading catalyst, arguing that one-month implied volatility near 41% sits "near the bottom of Tesla's own range" despite the October 1 reveal, a September 24 Semi event, and upcoming third-quarter deliveries, so an October 30 380/440 call spread offers "upside exposure" with limited premium. He reads the deposit timing as a confidence signal: "You don't ask customers to wire fifty large for a car you're about to embarrass yourself with on stage, or so one would hope." He acknowledges Tesla "has missed a long string of delivery dates" since the original reservations and that a 213x forward-earnings multiple is "hard to defend on today's earnings" versus 22x for Uber and 7x for Ford, but says the market has "never valued Tesla conventionally" because the company has "repeatedly done what most said couldn't be done" and should be seen as a technology firm priced for "optionality in autonomy, robotics, and energy." He also calls the "Cybercab hangover" overdone, treating early stumbles as "par for the course" before Tesla scales hardware.
The Right View
The New York Post frames the same move as a high-dollar reservation drive for a "long-delayed" car, stressing that Tesla is collecting large deposits "weeks before" unveiling a vehicle first shown nearly nine years earlier and never delivered in 2020 as promised. It highlights Musk's promotion of the Texas event as a "banger" that needs a live audience to vouch the demo "is not AI," and it reports a design overhaul into a carbon-fiber hypercar plus possible SpaceX cold-gas thrusters on a limited edition. The article underscores unresolved customer questions—pricing, specs, and whether earlier reservation holders keep priority—and notes Tesla "did not immediately respond to a request for comment about reservation priority or updated vehicle specifications."
Our Take (balanced)
Khouw's strongest argument is that management would not demand completed wire deposits immediately before a public specs-and-pricing event unless it expected October 1 to land, a reading he ties to cheap options relative to Tesla's own volatility history and to the firm's record of eventually building complex products at scale. The Post's strongest argument is the documentary record of delay: a 2017 prototype, a missed 2020 start, an abandoned architecture, and Tesla's silence when asked how old reservations and new pricing will work. The central unresolved tension is whether this reservation push is evidence the Roadster is finally becoming a real production car, or another pre-reveal cycle of deposits and spectacle around a vehicle that still has no delivery date.
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