Tesla Roadster Revealed as the Quickest Car in the World

0-60mph in 1.9 seconds, a top speed over 250mph, and a range of 620 miles

Tesla prepared everyone yesterday for the Semi truck reveal, and it certainly delivered an impressive vehicle capable of carrying 80,000 pounds of cargo. What we didn't expect, though, was a brand new version of the Tesla Roadster brought on stage in the back of a Semi.

Tesla is claiming the new Roadster is the quickest production car in the world, and it's hard to argue against that when looking at the base specs. The Roadster will accelerate from 0-60mph in just 1.9 seconds. 0-100mph takes 4.2 seconds, and quarter mile acceleration is 8.8 seconds. Then there's the top speed, which hasn't been revealed yet but is north of 250mph. As for wheel torque, it's gauged at 10,000Nm.

Tesla Roadster 2017

So the Roadster is fast, but Tesla doesn't seem to have compromised to achieve the speed. It's an all-wheel drive supercar that can seat four people and travel 620 miles on a single charge. The glass roof is removable and stored in the trunk making it a convertible, and I doubt anyone would argue about how great it looks.

For this level of performance, especially with a Tesla badge attached, you can expect to pay a small fortune to own one. The base price will be $200,000 with a $50,000 deposit required. There is also a Founders Edition costing $250,000, of which only 1,000 are set to be offered. Regardless of how quickly you can get that $50K deposit together, Tesla won't deliver the new Roadster until 2020.

Before anyone scoffs at the $200K price point, keep in mind the performance on offer and the competition it beats. Look at any of the new supercars in development by Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari, Lamborghini, or Bugatti, and prices start at $500K before quickly going up into the millions. Tesla has them all beat.