Tesla Roadster price
Two numbers on Tesla's own reservation page, and one of them is not the price of the car. Here is what each figure actually buys.
Base price
$200,000, the figure Tesla has carried since 2017 and still shows today.
Founders Series
$250,000, limited to 1,000 cars, paid in full up front.
Reservation
$50,000: $5,000 on a card, then $45,000 by wire within ten days.
Production
2028 at the earliest, per the 15 October 2026 reveal.
Checked on 19 October 2026 from Tesla's own page and the coverage of the 15 October reveal. MyCarFly is not Tesla and does not sell cars.
The two prices Tesla lists
The base car is listed at $200,000. That number has not changed since the first reveal in November 2017, which is unusual for a car that has been through nine years of cost inflation and at least one full redesign.
The Founders Series is listed at $250,000, capped at 1,000 cars, and it was sold as a paid-in-full reservation rather than a deposit. If you are reading old articles quoting a $50,000 deposit for a Founders car, that was the structure at the time, not the current one.
Neither figure includes the thruster package. Tesla has never published a price for it, and the demonstration car on 15 October was described as an option rather than a standard build.
What the $50,000 is, and what it is not
It is not a purchase and it is not a discount. It is a place in a queue. Tesla takes $5,000 on a credit card to hold the reservation, then $45,000 by wire within ten days, and states that the reservation is not final until the wire lands.
The card portion is the part Tesla has described as refundable. The wire is the part that makes the reservation real, and money wired for a car with no confirmed production date is money you should assume is committed.
Read Tesla's terms on the day you pay, not the version in a news article. Reservation structures change between reveal events, and the page is the only source that matters.
Why the sticker may move before 2028
A 2017 price attached to a 2028 car is a marketing decision, not a costing one. Battery capacity, thruster hardware and a low-volume production line all push the other way, and no car company has ever eaten nine years of that quietly.
Tesla has confirmed no final production pricing. When it does, the sensible expectation is the upper end of the range rather than the original figure, and the Founders Series is the tier most likely to disappear first.
What will not change is the shape of the deal: a large deposit, a long wait, and a car that is sold as a demonstration of what the company can do rather than as a product with a delivery schedule.
$200,000 for the car, $4.99 for the video
Those are not competing purchases and we are not pretending they are. One is a car you might get in 2028. The other is six to ten seconds of your own car leaving a road, made from a photo, delivered in a few minutes while you wait.
The reason both pages exist is that people search tesla roadster price after seeing a flying car video, and the honest answer is that the video is the part of this that anybody can afford.
Straight answers, no hedging
What is confirmed, what is not, and what to assume when somebody quotes a number at you.
How much does the Tesla Roadster cost?
Tesla lists $200,000 for the base car and $250,000 for the Founders Series on its own reservation page. Those are the only two prices the company has published.
Is $200,000 the final price?
No, that is a 2017 figure carried forward. Tesla has not confirmed production pricing, and options like the thruster package have no published price at all.
How much is the reservation?
$50,000 in total: $5,000 on a credit card to hold the slot, then $45,000 by wire within ten days. Tesla states the reservation is not final until the wire arrives.
Is the deposit refundable?
The $5,000 card portion is the part Tesla has described as refundable. The $45,000 wire is what completes the reservation, so treat it as committed money and read the terms on the day you pay.
Is the SpaceX thruster package included?
No. It was introduced as an option and has never been priced. The car that jumped on 15 October was built to demonstrate it, not sold with it as standard.
Will there be financing or a lease?
Nothing has been announced. With no production date for customer cars there is nothing to finance yet, and a $50,000 deposit is not usually financed anyway.
Can I get a flying car video without buying the car?
Yes, and that is what we do. A photo of the car you already own, one of seven stunts, six to ten seconds of video for $4.99. No reservation, no queue, no 2028.
The flying car part is already on sale
Not the car. The video. One photo of your own car goes in, six to ten seconds of it leaving a road comes out. $4.99 for the first one, no subscription.