Tesla Roadster's UAE reservation tops the starting prices of several sports cars
UAE buyers must commit Dh1.02 million to reserve a Tesla Roadster Thrust, exceeding the advertised starting prices of a Porsche 911 GT3 and a Taycan Turbo GT with Weissach package. That payment secures a reservation, not a fully paid car: Tesla has yet to announce final prices.
Mariam Al Mansoori
The upfront payment and the alternatives
Tesla splits the UAE reservation into two payments. For the Performance, buyers pay Dh20,000 initially and another Dh190,000 within 10 days, for a total of Dh210,000. The Thrust requires the same initial Dh20,000, followed by Dh1 million. If the purchase goes ahead, the reservation money counts toward the price, with the remaining balance still to be paid.
The Thrust's reservation alone is Dh198,300 more than the gas-powered Porsche 911 GT3's Dh821,700 starting price on Porsche's Dubai website, including VAT. It also exceeds the Dh957,900 starting price of the electric Taycan Turbo GT with Weissach package, including VAT, by Dh62,100.
Audi Dubai advertises its electric S e-tron GT at a starting price of Dh649,900, which is Dh370,100 below the Thrust reservation. At the lower end of these comparisons, the standard Porsche Taycan starts at Dh443,900, including VAT. Reserving the Roadster Performance requires about 47 percent of that amount.
The advertised prices were checked on Wednesday. They are starting purchase prices rather than reservation fees; options may raise the total, and availability and delivery terms vary by seller.
U.S. reservations also require substantial payments. When bookings reopened after Tesla's October 15, 2026 reveal, the company asked for $50,000 for the Performance and $250,000 for the Thrust. The invitation-only Rocket had no publicly disclosed reservation fee, and Tesla announced no final purchase price for any of the three versions.
A redesigned car with different promises
Tesla presented the redesigned second-generation Roadster in a livestreamed demonstration on October 15, 2026, at SpaceX's rocket test facility in McGregor, Texas, near Waco. The company plans to manufacture it at Gigafactory Texas in Austin.
The redesign changes several promises made for the 2017 concept. Tesla originally described a four-seat car capable of reaching 60 mph in 1.9 seconds and traveling 620 miles on a charge. The 2026 version accommodates no more than two people and carries a promised range of more than 300 miles, roughly half the earlier figure.
Tesla calls the Performance road-ready and the Thrust race-ready. The Thrust adds acceleration thrusters, while the single-seat Rocket has the flight system. The Rocket is invitation-only, is not approved for public roads and cannot be reserved online by UAE customers.
At the reveal, Tesla put the Performance's claimed 0–60 mph time below 1.6 seconds, the Thrust's below 0.9 seconds and the Rocket's below 0.59 seconds. It also advertised a top speed above 230 mph and more than 300 miles of range. None of those figures is an independently verified result.
Industry experts commenting on social media cautioned that the sub-one-second acceleration claim concerns a car still in development, not an independently tested production vehicle delivered to a customer. Porsche, by comparison, publishes a 2.2-second 0–100 km/h time for the Taycan Turbo GT with Weissach package using launch control. The acceleration endpoints are slightly different, and those figures do not capture the full differences between the cars.
Thrusters, refilling and power targets
The Roadster's thrusters and suction system offer collectors technology beyond the usual sports-car specifications. Tesla engineering vice president Lars Moravy said the thrusters use about 600 liters of rechargeable compressed air.
For the Thrust, nitrogen is stored in a 200-liter pressure vessel at about 10,000 psi. A fill allows one use lasting about five seconds, enough for a 0–60 mph run of about 0.85 seconds. Refilling currently takes two to six hours.
In comments to Top Gear, Tesla executives described output above 1,000 kW from an 800–1,000-volt battery. Their targets also included a weight below 1,700 kg, approximately 310–320 miles of range and charging at more than 500 kW.
A reservation does not settle where features can be used
Tesla's UAE website makes feature availability subject to regional legal requirements. Accepting an online reservation therefore does not establish that every advertised capability will be permitted locally. Nor does the race-ready label guarantee that an individual circuit will allow every system or maneuver.
U.S. regulators have addressed a separate question about the vehicle's status. The Federal Aviation Administration told CBS News and Politico that the Roadster falls outside its definition of an aircraft, so the agency would not need to certify it as airworthy. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it would continue monitoring the situation.
Those limits matter differently to a buyer seeking a road car and a collector intending to use the vehicle for private displays or controlled driving events.
Production is planned for 2028
Tesla first showed the second-generation Roadster in 2017 with a target of 2020. Production is now planned for 2028, and there is no guaranteed handover date for UAE customers.
Even a refundable reservation leaves the buyer's money committed during the wait. The financial trade-off depends on the length of that wait and how the buyer would otherwise use the funds. For someone considering cars already on sale, the choice is between committing money to a future Tesla with an undisclosed final price and buying a vehicle with a published starting price.
Tesla has also not explained what will happen to customers who placed deposits on the 2017 version.
