Skip to main content

Elon Musk says the new Tesla Roadster is on the way, but the Model Y and Cybertruck must come first

* Tesla will make the Cybertruck and ramp up Model Y production before moving to the $200,000 Roadster, CEO Elon Musk said.  * The topic came up on Joe Rogan's podcast, where Musk appeared this week for his second guest appearance.  * There's no clear date on when to expect the Roadster. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. In a Thursday podcast with Joe Rogan, popular guest and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company is prioritizing its other planned cars over the $200,000 Tesla Roadster sports car.  Rogan asked Musk when he'd be able to purchase a Roadster, as reported by Reuters, but Musk didn't have a date. Instead, Musk said increasing production of the Model Y midsize SUV and the building of a Gigafactory in Berlin, Germany, were his priorities.  "This COVID thing's kind of thrown us for a loop," Musk said when asked when the Roadster would be on sale. "Not to blame everything on COVID, but it's certainly set us back on progress for some number of months. "Roadster is kind of like dessert. We gotta get the meat and potatoes and greens and stuff." When asked if the Roadster would come before the Cybertruck — Tesla's upcoming electric truck that looks like it was folded out of shiny paper — Musk let out a long sigh. "I mean, I think we should do Cybertruck first, before Roadster," he said. Tesla first announced the new Roadster in 2017. Accompanying it were absurd, pie-in-the-sky claims, such as how it would hit 60 mph from a standstill in just 1.9 seconds and how it would run a quarter-mile in a mere 8.9 seconds. Top speed would be a claimed 250 mph. It'd have a 620-mile range from a 250 kWh battery pack and a starting price of $200,000. Musk himself then took to Twitter — his choice platform for making announcements — to tout the upcoming Roadster's features. Maybe it wouldn't need a key at all. Maybe it would even have rocket technology that would enable it to "fly short hops." The Roadster that debuted in 2017 was a mere concept. While the Roadster was initially expected to launch in 2020, Musk tweeted in September 2019 that the next Model S would go into production first and that the Roadster "will come later." It wasn't clear when exactly that would be.  This is the second time Musk has appeared on Rogan's podcast. He used the opportunity to double down on criticizing statewide stay-at-home orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past, he called the measures "forcible imprisoning," "fascist," and "not democratic." He also called panic about the pandemic "dumb" on March 6. Tesla's factory in Fremont, California, stopped producing cars on March 23 after the local stay-at-home order. A leaked email said the company intended to begin production again on Friday, as Business Insider previously reported. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Why thoroughbred horse semen is the world's most expensive liquid
https://bit.ly/35I9sj7

Popular posts from this blog

SpaceX has a 'go' from NASA to return 2 astronauts to Earth on Sunday as Hurricane Isaias threatens several Florida splashdown locations

* NASA on Saturday gave SpaceX a "go" to undock the company's first crewed space mission, called Demo-2, and land it on Sunday evening. * Hurricane Isaias complicated original plans to return two astronauts to Earth aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon spaceship in the Atlantic Ocean. * Elon Musk's aerospace company may now try to splash down NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley in the Gulf of Mexico. * Two out of seven total landing sites near Florida must have good weather conditions, and NASA has until about 5 p.m. ET on Saturday to call off the undocking. * Should the weather worsen, NASA and SpaceX can try again a day later or some other date over the next two months. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley have a "go" to return to Earth this weekend and wrap up an historic space mission for both NASA and SpaceX.  Behnken and Hurley launched to orbit aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon vehic...

What an independent contractor actually is and how it's classified under California's Assembly Bill 5, the gig worker law Uber, Lyft, and others are fighting with a November ballot measure

* California's Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) went into effect in January, adopting a narrow definition of independent contractor that forces Uber and other gig economy businesses to choose between reclassifying workers as employees or risking significant liability for misclassification. * The law serves as a reminder to California businesses to be careful when classifying workers as contractors.  * Classifying independent contractors falls into two main categories: the "right to control" test (often called the "IRS test") and the tougher "ABC test" recently adopted in AB5. * Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash have recently poured $30 million into Proposition 22 — a ballot measure intended to exempt major ridesharing and food delivery companies from AB5. If California residents vote the measure into effect in November, Uber and Lyft can continue classifying drivers as contractors.  * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. In September 2019, Californ...

PayPal parts with top advertising executive after shifting its marketing strategy during the pandemic

* PayPal's chief creative officer Steve Simpson, its top advertising executive, left the company after about a year. * The move came after PayPal shifted its marketing strategy during the coronavirus pandemic, placing less emphasis on the brand and more on catering to small businesses, said a source with direct knowledge of the marketing operation. * Simpson's departure followed that of CMO and former Apple executive Allison Johnson in May. Both "decided to leave PayPal" as the company streamlines its global marketing functions, according to a PayPal spokeswoman. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. PayPal's highest-ranking ad executive Steve Simpson left earlier this month after just over a year as part of a restructuring of its global marketing business. Simpson, who was chief creative officer, was hired to make high-minded ad campaigns to help PayPal stand out from competitors like Square, Stripe, and Apple Pay. But this strategy chan...