Tesla shows off a new Roadster that hops and flips using air thrusters, with production promised for 2028

The car was remote-controlled during the demonstration, and Tesla says it can reach about 97 kilometres an hour in under a second.

Developing

Tesla has shown off a new Roadster sports car that can hop into the air and flip using bursts of air. The demonstration was held at a SpaceX test site in McGregor, Texas, on Thursday, United States (US) time, CNBC reported. Elon Musk said the car was being remote-controlled. It used cold-gas thrusters, which push out bursts of compressed nitrogen or air. They are not rocket engines. The "flying" was really short hops and a flip, helped by a ramp, several outlets reported. Tesla says the car can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour, about 97 kilometres per hour, in 0.81 seconds. Nobody else timed it, and an earlier run showed 1.0 second. Musk said the car would go into production in 2028. No price has been given. Only a special invite-only version called "Rocket" will have the flying feature. It is not yet known if the car will be legal to drive on normal roads. For now, the biggest claims are Tesla's own.