It was designed after a stealth jet, and it might be the only thing that's cooler.
This is the SR-71 Blackbird, the Cold War spy plane shaped to dodge radar and still the fastest jet airplane ever flown (Wikipedia). Its new look-alike was designed after it and after the F-35 stealth fighter. And it doesn't need a runway.
It's a car. And it flies.
It's the new Tesla Roadster. The night it was revealed, October 15, 2026, Tesla posted that the "Roadster is inspired by the SR-71 & F-35" (EVXL, Electrek). Then, live in front of a crowd at SpaceX's test site in Texas, it did this:
Tesla's video: the Roadster lifts off, flips over a row of five Teslas and lands on its wheels. Tap to play.
Before that, it drove up a curved wall until it was almost upside down, dropped off, rolled itself right-side up in midair, and landed. Snopes checked the videos and rated them real (Snopes via Yahoo). Is it really flying? What it can and can't do →
What it looks like from the driver's seat:
A 17-second look at the screen inside the new Roadster, posted the night of the reveal by the YouTube channel What's Inside? Family. Tap to play.
All four are Tesla's claims or Tesla's own timing (Electrek, Tesla North). Nobody outside Tesla has measured them yet.
How it sticks, and how it flies
It sticks like a hovercraft in reverse. A hovercraft blows air underneath itself to float. The Roadster does the opposite: four fans suck the air out from under the car, and skirts around the bottom seal the edges. With less air pushing from below, the ordinary air above presses the car down hard, like a powered suction cup. That's how it held onto the wall, and Tesla says it can even hang upside down while parked (Tesla North).
It flies like a balloon you let go of. Tanks hold nitrogen gas squeezed to enormous pressure, rated up to 10,000 psi, when a car tire holds about 35. Open a valve and the gas rushes out one way, pushing the car the other way: up, forward or around. It's the same idea SpaceX uses to steer rockets.
But only for a few seconds. Tesla's engineer Lars Moravy says one fill gives about five seconds of boost, and refilling takes hours from an outside nitrogen supply, not a home outlet (Torque News). So it hops and flips; it doesn't fly across town. How it flies, step by step → · Our full thruster math →
Three versions
- Performance: the road car. Two seats, the suction fans and a moving wing, no thrusters. About 210 mph top speed, Tesla says.
- Thrust: adds thrusters in the back for a launch to 60 in under 0.9 seconds, Tesla says, and a 230 mph top speed.
- Rocket: the flying one. One seat, because a second gas tank sits where the passenger would. Ten thrusters all around. Invite only, and not approved for public roads.