The Roadster — a vehicle Delays and Tesla go together like peanut butter and jelly. The company promises one thing, misses a deadline, and then pushes it back until it's actually ready to launch. This has repeatedly happened with software updates, production dates, and is an ingrained part of the Tesla experience at this point.
If there's any Tesla product that's all too familiar with this, it's the Tesla Roadster. Originally unveiled in 2017, the Roadster has been little more than vaporware. Tesla showed it off at the initial event in 2017, prototypes have made appearances at museums and press gatherings, but it's made virtually no progress in becoming a car that people can go out and buy.
As is often the case with Tesla, the wait for the Roadster just got a little bit longer — again. After one Twitter asked Elon Musk if there was an update on Roadster production, Musk replied with the following: "2021 has been the year of super crazy supply chain shortages, so it wouldn’t matter if we had 17 new products, as none would ship. Assuming 2022 is not mega drama, new Roadster should ship in 2023." In other words, don't expect to buy a Tesla Roadster for at least two more years.
Why The Roadster Delay Might Actually Be Longer
"Mega drama," as Musk puts it, likely refers to the challenges of COVID-19 and the ongoing chip shortages. Both of those things will very likely continue throughout the next year. If that happens, there's a good chance the Roadster may not actually arrive in 2023. It'd be amazing if life as we know it were 100 percent back to normal in 2022. The likelihood of that happening, however, looks pretty slim at this point.
On top of that, the Roadster's history so far suggests another production delay could be very possible. When it was announced in 2017, Musk originally promised a release date of 2020. Once that came and went, it was then shifted to 2022. Here we are in August 2021 and Musk is already pushing the Roadster back to some time in 2023. Considering all of that and the likelihood of a challenging 2022, and there's reason to believe the Roadster doesn't actually make the 2023 window.
This also raises concern around the Tesla Cybertruck — Tesla's other vehicle. After reassuring customers that Cybertruck production would begin in late 2021, Tesla soon pushed it back to 2022. While that's still the plan for the time being, it wouldn't be surprising if Tesla has to delay the Cybertruck to 2023 as well. At this point, it's all just a game of wait and see.
Source: Elon Musk