Elon Musk to Unveil New Tesla Roadster on October 15 in Bid to Reclaim EV Momentum

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been compared to a sort of real-life Tony Stark, the brash albeit fictional billionaire genius of the Marvel multiverse also known as Iron Man, portrayed by the acclaimed actor Robert Downey, Jr. for movie-goers everywhere. However, this week’s media cycle belongs to Howard, Tony’s father. Howard, also a brash but fictional genius, is known for introducing a flying car to the thrilled attendees of the 1943 “World of Tomorrow” event depicted in the 2011 film Captain America, and, well…you know what happened in the movie…

Will The Flying Car Fly?

Tonight is the night that Elon Musk plans to unveil Tesla’s newly re-launched Roadster EV, rumored to be a Stark-level flying car of sorts. CleanTechnica has previewed the event here, though the big question being whether or not the car will actually leave the ground.

Maybe it will, and maybe it won’t. In the meantime, other electric vehicles presented as “flying cars” have already begun to emerge. Of course, many of these look more like aircraft with wheels than cars with wings. The distinguishing feature is VTOL, the ability to take off and land vertically, with a seamless transition to horizontal flight in between so you don’t mistake them for helicopters (see more VTOL background here, here, and here).

The VTOL field also has a more car-adjacent side, with the new Airspeeder International Series serving as a competitive showcase for flying EVs that resemble cars, if somewhat vaguely.

“We have been promised flying cars for generations,” Airspeeder proclaims, perhaps referring to Howard Stark’s somewhat optimistic prediction that his 1943-era flying car would be available “soon.”

That was (does math) 83 years ago, and Airspeeder founder Matt Pearson is determined to push the envelope into the here and now. The Australia-based aerospace entrepreneur founded the Airspeeder competition in 2018 along with the VTOL maker Alauda Aeronautics, which bills itself as a developer of personal air mobility and urban air traffic systems. “We use racing to accelerate its adoption and development,” Alauda explains of its relationship with Airspeeder.

“Our Electric Flying Car mission is to build the ultimate performance flying car will define a new mobility revolution,” Airspeeder adds for good measure.

The Ghost Of Thanos

Another big question about the October 15 Roadster launch event is whether or not the automotive press is paying any attention to the outside world. The short answer is another question, namely, why should they? Regardless of who is paying attention to what, the outside world is still a thing that exists in time and space, and the October 15 event is taking place at the epicenter of a perfect storm of bad press centering on Elon Musk himself.

I covered the recent series of unfortunate events here including an update on Elon Musk’s Starlink debacle in Ukraine, and my colleague at CleanTechnica Z.S. has more details here. The upshot is that Musk, once championed as a champion of electrified mobility, has had very little to say about decarbonization these days, and much to say about, well, everything else.

What neither Z.S. nor I covered is the fallout from Musk’s tenure as head of the “DOGE” budget-cutting office, where he was installed by US President Donald Trump at the beginning of 2025. The job didn’t last long — by May of 2025, Musk was reportedly gone. However, he was Thanos-level efficient during that short period of time.

Alongside the damage here at home — thousands of wrecked careers and lives upended following the mass firings of federal workers administered by DOGE — Elon Musk can also take credit for the rapidfire dismantling of the USAID (US Agency for International Development) program.

While little known outside of government and nonprofit circles, USAID is — or was — an essential funder of anti-poverty, health, and economic development programs around the world. “USAID served as a bulwark against diseases that don’t halt at national borders. Its programs identified emerging epidemics and minimized the spread of drug-resistant diseases that threaten Americans as well,” notes the organization Foreign Policy in Focus.

“Since 2000, USAID’s programs have prevented the deaths of 58 million people from tuberculosis, 25 million from HIV/AIDS, and over 11 million from malaria. It’s given 70 million people access to safe drinking water and, working in concert with global vaccine initiatives, helped to nearly eradicate polio,” FPIF summarized last year.

With all that now up in smoke, some public health professionals estimate that upward of 14 million people will die prematurely by 2030 due to the elimination of USAID funding. Some of the harm may be offset by private philanthropies, but the damage has been done.

Whither Elon?

In response to CleanTechnica’s preview coverage of the Roadster event, one reader suggested that the Roadster still has value as a sort of bright, shiny object adding a gleam to the rest of Tesla’s EV lineup (well, except for the Cybertruck, which is beyond saving).

That would have made sense back in 2006, when Tesla first developed the Roadster as a $100,000 showcase for battery-powered mobility, targeting auto enthusiasts who can afford to collect such things. The Roadster set the stage for Tesla to receive a generous loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy in 2009 with the aim of manufacturing more affordable EVs for the masses. Musk — and Tesla — repaid the loan in full just a few years later, and the rest is automotive history (again, with the notable exception of the Cybertruck).

For what, or whom, then, is the new roadster supposed to shine? With the exception of the US, electric mobility is firmly cemented into the global automotive landscape in key markets, and there is plenty of gleam to go around. Even oil-soaked Saudi Arabia now offering deep-pocketed motorists shiny new home-made EVs with which to play. Meanwhile, back here at home, the affordability and gap between the super-rich and everyone else are two related issues that claim the top of voters’ minds as the 2026 mid-term election cycle heats to a boiling point.

Given the timing, it’s tempting to ask why Musk has insisted on drawing attention to himself, and the Tesla brand, so close to Election Day — which is just around the corner on November 3, considering that the Elon Musk personal brand is more closely tied than ever to President Trump, who has successfully positioned himself as a sort of box office poison, threatening to tank every Republican candidates all up and down the ballot.

Come to think of it, I already asked that question yesterday, and I’ll ask it again: Why the Roadster, why now?

Photo: Tesla CEO Elon Musk aims to recover from the Cybertruck debacle by showcasing the new Tesla Roadster on October 15, a $200,000 reboot of the original 2006 Tesla two-seater that sparked the global EV revolution (photo via CleanTechnica archive).