People paid $50,000 to reserve Tesla's new Roadster nearly 7 years ago. Its launch date remains a mystery.

• Tesla's next-generation Roadster was announced successful 2017 and has faced aggregate delays.
• Elon Musk precocious said Tesla's Roadster takes a backmost spot to much pressing projects.
• Analysts said a hold wouldn't beryllium surprising.

Tesla continues to activity connected nan luxury car that promises to beryllium its astir costly conveyance to date. Nearly 7 years aft first unveiling nan caller Roadster, its merchandise day remains a mystery.

During Tesla's third-quarter net call, Elon Musk thanked nan "long-suffering deposit holders," galore of whom paid $50,000 successful 2017 to reserve nan much-delayed electrical sports car.

Musk said nan caller Roadster hasn't travel retired yet because "it's nan cherry connected nan icing connected nan cake" — and location are "other projects taking precedence earlier its launch."

That includes projects pinch a "more superior effect connected nan maturation of nan world," Musk said. The company's larger ngo is "to accelerate nan advancement towards a sustainable power future," he added.

"It is ace fun, and we are moving connected it, but it has to travel down them," he said.

Musk said Tesla is "actually yet making progress" and is "close to finalizing nan creation connected it."

Further delays wouldn't astonishment Wall Street

Most of nan Wall Street analysts Business Insider talked to weren't amazed by a imaginable delay.

Kate Leaman, main marketplace expert astatine AvaTrade, told Business Insider that Musk's comments connected nan Roadster weren't "too surprising" and show Tesla is putting effort into areas that "will thrust nan astir maturation and person an contiguous impact."

"Right now, Tesla is heavy focused connected high-impact projects," Leaman said, for illustration ramping up Model Y and Cybertruck production.

While nan Roadster is simply a instrumentality favorite, Leaman said it's besides a low-volume luxury car, truthful it doesn't make consciousness for Tesla to prioritize it erstwhile nan institution is pushing for "affordability and scalability."

Jacob Bourne, an expert astatine Emarketer, a sister institution to Business Insider, said that a Roadster hold is "not caller for Tesla" aliases Musk.

"This happens crossed his businesses," Bourne said. "He talks astir great, expansive plans that return a agelong clip to materialize aliases don't needfully materialize," Bourne said.

Tesla bull Dan Ives, an expert astatine Wedbush, told BI he expects nan Roadster, Semi, and sub $30,000 conveyance to each beryllium connected nan roadworthy wrong "12 months."

'The fastest accumulation car ever made, period'

Tesla's promised Roadster is simply a caller type of nan company's first-ever vehicle, a limited-production sports car released betwixt 2008 and 2012.

Musk first announced nan new Tesla Roadster successful November 2017 and said it would beryllium "the fastest accumulation car ever made, period." Tesla said nan conveyance would beryllium capable to spell 0-60 mph successful 1.9 seconds pinch a apical velocity of complete 250 miles per hour.

Musk antecedently said deliveries were expected to statesman successful 2023.

The four-seater sports car will person a removable solid tile and is expected to costs astir $200,000, according to nan company. Base Roadster reservations are $50,000, pinch a $5,000 first costs followed by a $45,000 ligament transportation required wrong 10 days.

In an question and reply pinch Don Lemon successful March, Musk said Tesla is collaborating pinch SpaceX to nutrient nan Roadster. He besides said nan conveyance would see "rocket technology" and didn't norm retired its expertise to "fly" short distances, though he didn't reply questions connected whether it would see nan characteristic directly.

"The only measurement to do thing that's cooler than nan Cybertruck is to harvester SpaceX and Tesla exertion to create thing that's not moreover really a car," Musk said successful nan interview.

Musk has made bold statements earlier astir what upcoming vehicles will beryllium tin of — not each of which person panned out. He erstwhile said nan Cybertruck would beryllium capable to float and run arsenic a vessel for short periods of time. It launched pinch nan expertise to wade done h2o up to 30 inches.

On nan Wednesday net call, Musk said nan Roadster is "really going to beryllium thing spectacular."

He said his "good friend" Peter Thiel had lamented a deficiency of flying cars.

"Well, we'll see," Musk said. "More to come."