Tesla unveils redesigned Roadster with brief flight and upside down driving

Tesla's redesigned Roadster has been a long time coming. The company revealed a prototype of the $200,000 sports car in 2017 and said deliveries would begin in 2020, according to The Independent.

That timetable did not hold. CNBC reported that Tesla had missed every targeted delivery date since Elon Musk first debuted the refreshed Roadster concept in 2017.

Ahead of the October 15 event, the immediate question was how far Tesla would take the redesign. MarketWatch reported that Musk was set to reintroduce the Roadster, possibly equipped with SpaceX thrusters, raising the prospect of a flying car demonstration.

The reveal also carried a business purpose. On October 15, Perfil.com described Tesla's push for new models as an effort to revive its automotive business amid a limited offering and weak Cybertruck sales.

Reports published on October 16 confirmed that the demonstration went beyond a conventional sports car launch. The Verge reported that the Roadster briefly flew, drove upside down and reached 60 miles per hour in under a second at an event in Waco, Texas.

The flight involved a specific obstacle: other Tesla vehicles. According to TechCrunch, the new Roadster used thrusters to leap over a Cybercab, Cybertruck, Tesla Semi, Model Y and Model 3.

The story has moved from a promised reveal and speculation about flight to a demonstrated vehicle. Business Insider described the newly unveiled Roadster as Tesla's new halo product and reported that it could travel upside down.

But the demonstration is not the same milestone as customer deliveries. The supplied coverage does not establish a new delivery date or a current production price. The Wall Street Journal Tech framed the sports car as a test of America's appetite for high-end electric sports cars.

The next concrete questions are when Tesla will deliver the Roadster, what it will cost and which demonstrated capabilities customers will receive. Those details remain unestablished in the supplied reports, after the succession of missed delivery targets documented by CNBC.