Why Elon’s Musk new Roadster will fly off the shelves

October 19, 2026– 11:51 am

Someone hint The Jetsons signature tune, please. Ready? Let’s go:

” Meet Elon Musk! His kid, X Æ A-Xii/Transgender child Vivian/Shivon Zilis, his other half (other than they’re not wed, although he calls her his partner and she is the mom of 4 of his 14 kids, however not the one birthed by influencer Ashley St. Clair in 2015, who Elon states he’s not exactly sure he fathered however is however spending for anyhow).

The authors of The Jetsons may’ve led their time when they had old George whooshing around the sky in a flying saucer-car, however they could not potentially have actually anticipated that the trillionaire who would bring that vision to life had a backstory that would not fit nicely into a 90-minute introduction, much less a 90-second one.

Like Musk, Hollywood has actually long been consumed with flying cars in all their blockbusting, turbo-thrusting magnificence. Believe Dr Emmett Brown’s DeLorean Time Machine in Back to the FutureOr Bond bad guy Scaramanga’s AMC Matador. Or whatever the hell Danny Zuko was driving when he and Sandy inexplicably flew and began tilling through the clouds at the end of Grease

For movie manufacturers untroubled by the laws of physics, the requirement for engineering precision or anything approaching dull old automobile truth was nicely avoided with a little fire in the tailpipe and painted racing stripes down the sides of whatever they were claiming to send out into the air that day. All program and no go, as the maxim would have it.

By contrast, the Tesla Roadster revealed at Musk’s SpaceX center in McGregor, Texas, on Thursday, was exactly the reverse. Internally, it was all explosive aerospace cold-gas thruster innovation. Externally, it looked a bit Chitty Bang Bang’s damp dream. (Musk stated he welcomed the live crowd to show it wasn’t AI, however I can’t make sure that wasn’t an AI variation of him stating that.)

The abrupt possibility of flying automobiles ending up being An Actual Thing sent out the web into overdrive. There was tricked-up video footage of a hatchback flying to prevent a pit– Musk needs to have had Sydney roadways in mind when he created it. Another illustrating an SUV embedded in an overhead roadway indication. A revamped McDonalds drive-thru with routine automobiles at ground level and a flying Tesla lane above. My favorite was a cow skyrocketing through the air above the words: “F– this s–, I’m out”. (“I choose hamburger”, came the speedy action.)

There were those who took the opposite tack, taking the chance to ruin the celebration and dazzle everybody with science: “Vertical rocket thrust has actually been around for years, however constantly utilizing thrust to hold a two-tonne automobile versus Earth’s gravity is exceptionally ineffective. Sure, it can get more effective … however you can’t craft away the basic issue that a little cars and truck needs to bring and constantly use up a substantial quantity of weighty propellant for it to raise immediately,” checked out one common X post, which has actually been modified here for clearness and likewise due to the fact that it’s a huge buzzkill.

Part of the issue is that cheering for Elon Musk wizardry is a bit like breathlessly proclaiming the virtues of a Michael Jackson album. Were both guys when viewed as visionaries in their fields? Definitely. Does anybody desire them (or certainly, their ghost) at their next supper celebration? Most likely not.

Wowsers aside, countless drivers stuck in day-to-day gridlock welcomed the principle of leaving to a highway in the sky with unchecked enjoyment, such that “How much does a Tesla flying automobile expense?” was among the leading 3 “individuals likewise ask” concerns on an associated Google search by Saturday.(The response, by the way, is upwards of $200,000, and production isn’t arranged to begin up until 2028.)

Up until then, it’s death by a thousand anxious breakdown-inducing drives, loaded with horn-blowing imbeciles, lane-cutting sleazebags and the periodic self-destructive Uber Eats rider seizing the day to upgrade his socials while surpassing a turning cement truck. And when you do lastly get to anywhere you’re going, there’s the alleviation of understanding that the very first Tesla Roadster will be flying off the assembly line long before you find a parking area.

It’s sufficient to make you wish for easier times. When the roadways were quieter, Elon Musk was a twinkle (or perhaps a little, bothersome bug) in somebody’s eye, and George Jetson got every thumbs-up on the flight home from work.

Michelle Cazzulino is a Sydney author.

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