Tesla Reveal World’s Fastest Production Car

Tesla has surprised everyone with a new roadster at the end of the planned reveal of the new electric Tesla semi-truck – the articulated electric lorry that the company hope will eventually sound the death knell of the ubiquitous diesel lorry. Tesla CEO Elon Musk had promised that there might be a bit of a surprise at the event, but surely nobody was expecting a surprise quite as big as this.

The claim is that the new 4-seater roadster will prove to be the fastest production car ever. The claim is that this handsome looking sports car can achieve 0-60mph in a sub-2 second time  – of just 1.9 seconds. Even the given 0-100mph time of 4.2 seconds beats what most cars could ever hope to do in a 0-60 test. This would mean that the prestigious quarter miler would be a sub-10 time of around 8.9 seconds.

The new roadster surprised everyone as it sped from the back of an electric semi-truck (the only vehicle everyone thought they were here to see) at Tesla’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California to a medley of cheers and gasps. The ambitious technical specs (if accurate) will surely prove to be the end of any doubts over electric car performance. A 200kWh battery pack with a 620-mile range will prove more than enough for the likes of most of Europe and certainly allay many of the fears of some doubters in America as well. To illustrate the point, Musk asked the crowd to imagine being able to drive from LA to San Francisco without having to stop and recharge.

Three motors handle the all-wheel drive car’s power, with a blistering top speed likely to be in the region of 250mph – and what’s more, you don’t actually have to wait too long for this sports car either; the roadster will, according to Tesla, be available in 2020 from around $200,000. Despite the price not being set in stone, anyone who was willing to put a $50,000 deposit down on the roadster was able to secure a brief ride in the car too – and many did.

Forget the impressive tech spec, though; this car actually looks great as well with classic, sleek traditional sports car fastback looks. At last it seems that the makers of electric vehicles are starting to realise that we don’t want them to look different; we want the technology in familiar, recognised good-looking designs that stand the test of time.

So with only about 2 years to wait for the new Tesla roadster to go into production, this means there is only a relatively short period of time for Tesla’s rivals to muster up something equally striking and special. I wonder if they can.