Tesla’s flying car has India’s attention. But what can you actually book?
The airborne Roadster Rocket is invitation-only. Reservations in India are open for two other configurations, and ₹5 lakh will only get your foot through the door
Elon Musk has officially introduced a Tesla Roadster featuring SpaceX-inspired thrusters capable of performing aerial maneuvers, capturing the attention of tech enthusiasts worldwide. While Indian buyers can now reserve the Performance and Thrust variants through substantial deposits, official reservation terms highlight significant uncertainties regarding delivery timelines, final pricing, and regional legal approvals.
Elon Musk has officially introduced a Tesla Roadster featuring SpaceX-inspired thrusters capable of performing aerial maneuvers, capturing the attention of tech enthusiasts worldwide. While Indian buyers can now reserve the Performance and Thrust variants through substantial deposits, official reservation terms highlight significant uncertainties regarding delivery timelines, final pricing, and regional legal approvals.
Elon Musk has officially introduced a Tesla Roadster featuring SpaceX-inspired thrusters capable of performing aerial maneuvers, capturing the attention of tech enthusiasts worldwide. While Indian buyers can now reserve the Performance and Thrust variants through substantial deposits, official reservation terms highlight significant uncertainties regarding delivery timelines, final pricing, and regional legal approvals.
Indian electric car and tech enthusiasts waited years for Tesla to arrive. And on Friday, Elon Musk has given them something else: a car that hovers!
At Tesla’s presentation in Texas this week, the Roadster went up a ramp, rotated in mid-air and landed with help from its thrusters. All this with nobody behind the wheel! And just like that, flying cars became a reality.
We got flying cars before GTA VI. But before anyone gets the idea that these hovering boxes can be bought, let us dissect what Tesla is saying: the ‘Rocket’ version doing the aerial manoeuvres is invitation-only.
Which Tesla Roadster can you reserve in India?
As per Tesla India, reservations will be open for Performance and Thrust variants in the future. Of course, these need MVD clearances too. Performance has no cold-gas thrusters. Thrust adds rear-facing acceleration boosters, as Musk showed in the presentation in Texas.
The single-seat Rocket gets the full flight system, but you can’t reserve it.
Ground reports state a ₹5.01 lakh initial payment. For Performance, another ₹45.05 lakh is due within ten days, bringing the reservation to ₹50.06 lakh. For Thrust, with the "race-ready" thrusters, the total is a staggering ₹2.50 crore.
What does the reservation promise?
We reviewed Tesla’s US Roadster reservation agreement. For India, it just says "availability is subject to each region’s legal requirements and applicable laws."
The US website also says a reservation "does not constitute the purchase or order of a vehicle". Prices remain estimates. Tesla cannot guarantee when delivery will happen—or whether it will happen at all. The money is not escrowed and earns no interest.
For Indian buyers, things are even more unclear with no region-specific terms and conditions: who receives the money, when can they cancel, and how would a refund work? The US-facing terms cannot answer these. For now, we await official statements from Tesla India.
And for Rocket, Tesla pretty much says it is “not approved for public road use”.
But it stands to fact that the hover-car is, technically, here. It may not be a DeLorean like in Back to the Future, but it opens a door for many players to work on similar tech.