The auto business has a long history of ‘halo’ vehicles, produced not so much for profit potential as for an ability to enhance a car company’s brand image.
The incredible flying Tesla Roadster is like that. But it isn’t really about cars. It’s about engineering—and attracting top engineering talent at Tesla and Elon Musk’s other trillion-dollar company, SpaceX.
On Thursday, Tesla unveiled its new Roadster. Musk said it would be memorable, and the event didn’t disappoint. After sticking to a road upside down—using a vacuum-suction effect—the car leapt off the wall, twisted, and landed safely with the help of 10 compressed air thrusters—a technology borrowed from SpaceX.
The demonstration was unlike any car publication or investor had seen. Of course, the flying version isn’t likely to be street-legal. And Tesla isn’t selling it to the regular public. Its website lists the rocket version as invite-only. It’s likely a seven-figure vehicle. The version without SpaceX technology will likely be $200,000 to $300,000.
There isn’t a big market for cars that expensive. It won’t be a make-or-break vehicle for Tesla, just like Ford Motor’s Mustang GTD or General Motors’ Corvette ZR1X aren’t make-or-break vehicles for those auto makers. Both cars cost well north of $200,000.
The Mustang and Corvette help build the Ford and Chevy brands. The Roadster will build Tesla’s brand, but not as a car company. It’s an advertisement to engineers. Come to Tesla and SpaceX and engineer the unthinkable.
Both SpaceX and Tesla already attract top talent. Tesla says it received 6.12 million job applications in 2025.
It’s also an advertisement to investors that SpaceX and Tesla overlap a lot. The two companies collaborate on engineering (i.e., the Roadster), AI, and semiconductor manufacturing, among other things.
They also share a CEO. That’s probably the biggest reason many investors and analysts expect the two companies to merge someday. Barclays analyst Dan Levy wrote recently that a deal could be announced before the end of the year.
The merger topic will come up this week when Tesla and SpaceX report quarterly results. SpaceX reports third-quarter numbers on Tuesday. Tesla reports on Wednesday.
For Tesla, investors will want a robo-taxi update. At SpaceX, investors will be looking to see how fast the AI business is growing. It’s likely there is a lot of overlap in the Tesla and SpaceX shareholder bases, too.
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