Tesla's flying Roadster is a weapon in the talent wars

Now, it kinda flies, and I’m not just being hyperbolic about its speed. (Although, I guess, that would be a fair read, too.) On Thursday, CEO Elon Musk unveiled the second-generation Roadster.

It’s capable of doing “crazy gymnastics,” Musk said, like hopping off the ground and spinning in the air.

The prototype also sprints from standing to 60 mph in 0.8 seconds, Tesla claims — and the automaker said the production model will be even quicker.

Will the two-door electric sports car be street legal?

Instead, the car is accomplishing something more tangible — and more obviously Musk-like: make Tesla look like the kind of company that can build things other companies cannot.

That’s a useful message for Wall Street and for the engineers Tesla wants to hire.

Tesla is already valued far more like a tech company than a traditional automaker.

For years, investors have bet heavily on its ambitions in autonomy, artificial intelligence, robotics, and robotaxis.

A flying (or, at least, hopping) Roadster does not prove those businesses will work, but it makes Tesla’s technological ambitions more legible.

Musk also has long treated product spectacles as recruiting events, too.

At a 2019 Neuralink presentation, where he announced that the company had successfully implanted sensors in rats’ brains, he said the “main reason for doing this presentation is recruiting.” Ahead of Tesla’s 2021 AI Day, Musk posted on X that “convincing the best AI talent to join Tesla is the sole goal.” The Roadster reveal follows a very similar playbook.

What better way to excite more techies than a flying car?

Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, also agrees that Thursday’s Roadster reveal was an exciting technical feat for up-and-coming tech talent: Two takeaways from tonight’s Roadster event.

It was an engineering flex with no commercial value beyond embarrassing traditional car makers.

Elon can’t wait to bring $TSLA and $SPCX together.

Who knows if Tesla will even be able to bring this car to American roads.

Musk said he doesn’t even know. “I’m not sure it’s necessarily legal in all jurisdictions,” he said during the Thursday launch.

When asked if the car was street legal, Musk responded: “Yeah, depends on your street.” Either way, this car may not need to be a volume sales winner to be a hit for Tesla.

It might just need to be the tech belle of the ball.